Julie O'Rourke's Herb Salt Blends

We asked our pal, the multi-talented Julie O'Rourke, Maine-based founder of cult clothing label Rudy Jude, to tell us what she gets up to with her Alice's Mortar & Pestle. Julie inspires us daily, and this newest adventure in homemade condiments truly epitomizes her approach to teaching her kids about the intersection of food and nature. She and her husband took their three small boys to harvest local sea salt along the coast—they then combined it with dried herbs from their garden to make special salt blends for year-end teacher gifts.

Julie has told us about her "small crew of very capable and confident young people around me who love to explore our woods, our yard, and our kitchen. Motherhood opened a door for me when it came to eating, cooking and gathering ingredients, one that didn’t just come ajar out of necessity like it used to. Motherhood became a place so full of excitement and abundance, with the new challenge of keeping small bellies full and balanced, and small minds engaged with food and nature."

Alice's Mortar & Pestle is a perfect tool for making spice blends of all kinds and is especially helpful in processing coarser artisanal salts. Find Julie's blend recipes below—and subscribe to her fabulous new Substack 'Never Done' which is a trove of videos and content covering everything from home renovation projects to delicious recipes and DIY craft projects that are fun for the whole family. 

Julie's Salt Blends:

  • Smokey Spicy Blend: good for popcorn, chicken, roasted veggies
  • Smoked paprika, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, garlic powder, black pepper, dried chili flakes

 

  • Garden Herb: good on literally everything
  • Dried thyme, oregano, parsley, sage. You could dry a bit of lemon zests in a warm oven and throw that in too.

 

  • Sweet Fairy salt: good as an addition to anything that is kind of sweet that could use a little salt: berries, apple slices, whipped cream, literally any dessert will benefit from flowers and salt.
  • Dried lavender buds, dried chamomile, dried rose petals, a bit of sugar, pinch of cinnamon. 


Don’t get caught up in measurements, just freeform it, and taste as you go!