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salvorhardin

(9,995 posts)
Fri Mar 9, 2012, 08:45 PM Mar 2012

Salt-free lemon pepper seasoning?

I use a lot of salt-free lemon pepper seasoning. Unfortunately, it seems to have disappeared from local store shelves. Does anybody know of a place to find this online inexpensively? Penzeys has a salt-free lemon pepper blend but it's really pricey -- $1.60/oz. not including shipping.

I found another place that has an inexpensive blend, and with flat rate shipping, if I buy 6 6oz. containers it works out to about 77¢/oz. I don't know anything about this company though, plus it has a lot of extra ingredients in it, like rice flour. http://www.fiestaspices.com/index.asp?page=bbq_lemonpeppersf

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Denninmi

(6,581 posts)
1. Why not make your own.
Fri Mar 9, 2012, 08:59 PM
Mar 2012

Honestly, lemon pepper seasoning isn't something I use, so I don't know exactly what they put into it. But ...

... you can buy dehydrated powdered lemon juice pretty cheaply. Grocery stores generally carry True Lemon brand for around $4 for a box of 32 packets (each is about a tablespoon of powdered lemon juice, IIRC). You can buy powdered dehydrated lemon juice even cheaper from places like Firehouse Pantry in Dayton, Ohio - $7.99 a lb.

http://www.firehousepantrystore.com/lblemonjuicepwdr.html

Or, if you prefer dried lemon zest, it's about $5 for 4 ounces:

http://www.firehousepantrystore.com/4lemzest.html

And, of course, black pepper is pretty universally available, as are the other spices and herbs that would go into a lemon pepper blend -- seems to be a lot of different recipes online, but some of the more common things in the blends in small amounts are onion powder, thyme, oregano, coriander.

Good luck.


salvorhardin

(9,995 posts)
5. Do you think a combination of dried lemon zest and ground black and white pepper would work?
Sat Mar 10, 2012, 12:49 PM
Mar 2012

I've seen a few recipes online but they all call for using whole peppercorns and fresh lemon zest, "smoking" it in the oven (I'm sure my landlord would be aghast at this idea, as would my overly sensitive smoke alarm), then grinding it in a spice grinder (something else I'd need to buy).

I wonder if something as simple as mixing dried lemon zest, and black and white pepper would work. Would the dried lemon zest really carry a lot of flavor? I've never used it before.

Incidentally, I've never seen dehydrated lemon powder at the grocery store. In fact, getting straight lemon juice (something else I use a lot of) is a dicey proposition these days. Honestly, over the past year I've noticed a lot of what I consider staple items disappearing from store shelves. Yet the stores carry dozens of types of flavored sugar waters in the juice aisle.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
10. You should be able to get the Fiesta brand in the Mexican food aisle of most stores;
Sat Mar 10, 2012, 10:45 PM
Mar 2012

If not, try a Mexican food store. Have you tried the Lawry's blend here?

http://lawrys.com/Products/Spice-Blends/Lemon-Pepper-Seasoning.aspx

It only has 3% sodium. I don't used much salt either and have to avoid it. Always have had to stay away from it, although the mineral salts in say, fresh greens, etc., don't bother me.

I have been using their Seasoned Pepper for years, can't go back to regular now:

http://lawrys.com/Products/Spice-Blends/Seasoned-Pepper.aspx

You could also buy some lemon juice in a bottle that will keep for a long time. If the Lawry's lemon pepper will work, I suggest using it instead of Fiesta.

While Fiesta is good enough for some bulk dried herbs, they are often not very fresh and their mixtures have a few extra things you may not want.

If all else fails and you want to buy it online, I'd also recommend giving the Frontier Co-Op brand of spices a try. They can be purchased at the bulk part of the grocery store or online.

Okay, I'm all out. Good luck!

salvorhardin

(9,995 posts)
11. I think the best bet is to make it myself
Sat Mar 10, 2012, 10:54 PM
Mar 2012

I did some googling around and found a couple of recipes using dried lemon zest. Just eyeballing it they seem to have about the right proportion, so I'll order some dried lemon zest online and try mixing it myself next time.

salvorhardin

(9,995 posts)
4. Thanks, I'd already checked Amazon and a number of online spice shops
Sat Mar 10, 2012, 12:44 PM
Mar 2012

I was hoping somebody might know of something I'd missed.

Response to salvorhardin (Original post)

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