My favorite way to enjoy fresh fruit is with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a generously dusting of homemade chile limon seasoning! Why not just purchase it already made? Because for many years it was not available where I lived in New York. And not just the chile limon seasoning, but many other food items that I grew up enjoying, like good tortillas or Mexican hot sauce, lol! The positive thing about it not being available is that it forced me to learn how to prepare many foods from scratch in order to enjoy them. And not just for fresh fruit, the homemade chile limon seasoning can be used to season shrimp, fish, chicken and roasted vegetables! Oh, and super tasty on fresh tamarind or on the rim of a glass for micheladas or bloody mary’s. Am I making you hungry? Just made myself hungry!!
Homemade Chile Limon Seasoning
When I couldn't find any chile limon seasoning to purchase at the local market, I decided to prepare my own.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 cups chile de arbol dried or chile japones
- 2 chile guajillo dried or 1 chile ancho
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sour salt citric acid
- Kosher salt to taste I added about 3 1/2 teaspoons
Instructions
Directions
- Remove any stems from dried chiles. Remove the seeds only from the large dried chiles, not the chile de arbol. Place the dried chiles to a skillet. Heat to medium/low heat and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, turning often. You just want the peppers to become slightly aromatic and dry out a little more. You will do this in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan.
- Also in batches, grind the peppers to a coarse grind using a spice grinder or coffee bean grinder. I only use my coffee grinder for spices, lol!
- Combine the ground up chiles with Citric acid(sour salt) and kosher salt to taste. Keep store in an airtight container. Makes about 1 cup. My favorite way to enjoy the chile limon seasoning is on fresh fruit.
Recipe Notes
Tips~ I only use my coffee grinder for spices. They are fairly inexpensive, so I would suggest using it only for spices.
You can find the citric acid readily where the canning supplies are sold or online.
The chile japones are very close in flavor and heat level to the chile de arbol.
Many times you will find the chile de arbol with and without stems.
Chile Guajillo, Chile California and Chile New Mexico are similar in flavor, but the New Mexico and California tend to be more spicy.
I made this recipe. So easy and absolutely yummy. Thank you!!
Oh, good Maggie!! Thanks for letting me know.