I don’t remember where I first learned about 7:2:1. I don’t *think* it was when I was looking for a cheap, homemade Christmas present to make for friends and family, but that’s exactly what wound up happening. Once I made it and we started using it on everything we made, I had to give it away. And it is the only gift I’ve given that has my people asking for it again.

Here’s a lovely fact: 7:2:1 is the easiest thing in the world to make.

• You need salt. (Choose your variety! I’ve done Kosher, sea, table, and mixes of them.)
• You need garlic powder. Not garlic salt. Garlic. Powder.
• You need black pepper. (I usually use preground black peper for this. I suppose you could grind it. Have fun with that.)

Story break: A long, long time ago, in this very galaxy, there were these things called “analogies” on the SAT. The basic notation was all about colons. A “:” meant “is to” or “is related to” and “::” meant “as” or “in the same way as.”

You still see this sort of thing on some standardized tests; it’s just that they used to be really hard and an entire chunk of the Verbal Section and alllllllllll about vocabulary. So you’d have page after page of stuff like this:

You can see why they decided this was maybe not the best way to judge college readiness.

(Ignore the fact that obstreperous is not a sentence and the cursor bar. I made it up in Wrd and used the Snipping Tool – #snippingtoolforLIFE. But obviously my attention to detail was sorta lacking, and I didn’t save the Word doc, and it’s 1 am…)

BACK TO THE RECIPE.

The point of that story was to help you remember the recipe for 7:2:1. Because its basically saying 7 parts SALT, 2 parts GARLIC POWDER, 1 part BLACK PEPPER. It’s a relational recipe – 7 units : 2 units : 1 unit.

I usually do it in tablespoons. I typically think I have way more of something than I actually have, so doubling the recipe has had…less than favorable results. (Once, I had a spill and accidentally wound up with 7:2:2, which was a bit peppery for our tastes but some people love.)

Dump all that in a bowl.

Mix it up.

Now I usually decant into seasoning jars for gifts with a small funnel, but have started using this mason jar because we use it so much that I now wind up keeping most of it for myself (if not all) unless I’m specifically on a gift-making mission.

Y’all, it’s so good and simple and I use it in almost anywhere “salt and pepper” are called for. DE. LIcious.

Enjoy your 7:2:1. And the new SAT.