Ingredients
Instructions
- Grind this one in batches rather than filling the chamber. A cup of dried parsley is mostly air, and a packed mill spins the top layer while the bottom sits untouched.
- Start the rosemary on its own. It is by far the toughest leaf on the list and it grinds into needles that stay sharp in the mouth if the softer herbs cushion it from the blade.
- Tip the coarse salt in with the leaves rather than adding it at the end. The crystals act as an abrasive and drag the soft herbs down onto the blade instead of letting them ride above it.
- Hold the black pepper back until the last few seconds. Pepper loses its aroma to friction faster than anything else here, and a long grind leaves you with dust that smells of very little.
- Stop while it still looks like a rub and not like a powder. This goes onto oiled meat and sits for hours, and a coarse grain is what survives that without turning to paste.
- Turn it onto a plate for a few minutes before jarring. A mill working through a cupful of leaf gets warm, and warm herb sealed in glass sweats against the sides.
- It holds its scent for around four months in a dark cupboard. Rosemary and thyme outlast the parsley by a long way, so once the blend smells only of resin it has lost its balance and wants remaking.
