Winter is coming!

Smoke is not just for meat
The smoker, a fantastic tool for making great tasty meat dishes. Brisket, ribs, or a big tomahawk steak? All of these thrive in the smoke, and attract the wonderful aroma smoke adds to them. But your smoker or grill can be used for so much more! What about salt? Or maybe sugar? How about the onion powder for your favorite rub? Now that summer is coming to an end, and many people are reluctant to light up the grill? Now when it gets colder, rain, snow and dark evenings take over for sun and heat. I grill all year round, of course, but preserving some of the delicious smoke aroma for late fall and winter is not a stupid idea. The vegetables in the garden is fully riped and ready for harvest. So now is the time to use the smoker or grill for something other than meat. For the last 2 weeks I have been harvesting, drying and smoking lots of goodies from the garden. If you are not so lucky to have room for your own vegetables, help someone you know to harvest some herbs and get to smoking. Maybe they will find some inspiration for their overgrown garden here aswell!?

Smoked mint sugar
So you thought your mojito was the bomb!? Think again and try one with smoked mint sugar! Or serve mins sugar with strawberries and lime.

What you need:

Mix sugar and mint leaves
Mix sugar and mint leaves in a blender, coffee bean grinder or food processor to a fine porridge. Spread it out in a baking pan. Put it in your smoker / grill and smoke at about 150F. The sugar may melt a little, but no worries. After 2-3 hours in the smoke, put the pan in a dehydrator or oven with a drying function at 125F. If you do not have a drying function on your oven, you can use hot air at the lowest possible temperature with the door slightly opened so that the moisture can escape from the oven. When the sugar is completely dry (after about one day ++), take it out of the oven and put the sugar in the fridge for an hour or two before putting it in an airtight container. Perfect for fresh desserts, in your Mojito, or in a slightly fresh BBQ rub.

Smoked onion powder
I almost have to many onions for harvest this year, almost 40 ea, So I thought that now is a perfect opportunity to make some onion powder, a spice used in many of my homemade rubs. Homemade onion powder tastes MUCH better than the ones you can buy in the store, and if you smoke the onion before you dry it, it tastes EVEN better. It’s easy, but takes some time like anything else you need to dry.

What you need:

Slice the onion thinly
I used a mandolin to get as thin slices as possible. Take care of your fingers, the mandolin is very sharp and cuts you faster than you can say ouuch! Use the safety block that comes with it and you will save your fingertips! Spread the onion slices over a baking tray / grate with baking paper underneath. Place the tray / grate in the smoker and set at 145F. If it gets too hot, the onion will burn, and this does not taste particularly good. So watch the temperature. After 3-4 hours of smoke, take the onion out of the smoker and into the oven set at drying 125F degrees here as well. Let it dry completly, approx. 24 hours, when the onion easily breaks in your fingers, it is dry enough. Then crush the onion to a powder with a blender, grinder or food processor. Store dry in an airtight container.

Possibilities
Smoke flavor can be added to many spices and herbs. Peppers, salt, chilli, the list is long. If you follow the processes above, it is only your imagination that sets the limits of what you can create. This time I made these goodies for the spice shelf, among others: