Mint!!!

[FGYT]

So good, they give it out in hospitals (seriously)

Yesss they do lots of things in hospital that are actually good for you (well better than not doing at the time) but they have Drs and Anesthetic on hand to help and don't recommend you try at home with a kettle



ATB

Duncan

 

[Gray]

Lovely mixed with black tea and a bit of sugar (i have a sweet tooth). Really refreshing

 

[Rich.H]

Most of my garden mint goes one of three ways.

1. Make mint sauce, tend to do 2-3 jars each year, Chop in some corriander (around 1/5 the amount of mint), warm some vinagar (I prefer to use malt) throw in the herbs and gently simmer, add enough sugar to your own taste and bung in sterilized jars.

2. Freeze it in ice cubes, chop up very roughly and put in your ice cube tray fill with water and freeze, you can then either throw them straight in drinks to both chill and give mint flavours or use them like stock cubes for cooking.

3. Dry it for cooking, when drying the trick is to dry as fast as possible with all herb, they all have natural oils that are lost eith every second of evaporation of the water content. So the faster you dry the more oil you retain and thus more flavour. Handy trick I found is to use a microwave, the time varies depending on the herbs but just use stems with leaves on rather than mess about deleafing. Lay them in sparse layers no more than 3 layers high, stick your microwave on high for anywhere between 1-4 minutes checking them every 30 seconds or so and you end up with perfect crisp dry leaves. Be warned you have to sit and watch this until you get an idea of timings for different herbs things like sage can and will ignite within seconds of their total dry time.

 

[daveO]

I second that. Make a syrup like this and enjoy whenever you like

Nice I put a handfull of the top leaves into a pestle and mortar with 2 tsps brown sugar, pound until smooth then add the juice of a whole lime to make it liquid. Mix with a shot of bacardi per glass and top up with soda water or lime tonic. Lovely.

Last night I picked my first cucumber so chopped half of it up with mint and natural yogurt to make a kind of tzatziki. Going to experiment with that more but it was pretty good.
[h=1][/h]

 

[Harvestman]

Come on then Knifefan. Lots of ideas on here. What have you done with yours?

 

[Rod Paradise]

Mojitos

Or Louisiana Jam - delicious.

The Louisiana Jam is made with apricot jam and served in – yep you guessed it – a jam jar. Delicious and a highly original idea that won't have you worrying if your guests break any glasses when they've had one too many. Jamtastic! Recycling has never been more fun… How to make your Louisiana Jam: 35ml Southern Comfort
20ml lemon juice
20ml apple juice
2 teaspoons of apricot jam
8 mint leaves
15ml sugar syrup
Place mint leaves into a clean, empty jam jar and gently muddle. Add the remaining ingredients into the jam jar and half fill with crushed ice, put the lid on and shake vigorously. Remove the lid and top up with crushed ice. Garnish with a lemon wedge and a sprig of mint.

I made a Zombie Jam version with rum, pineapple juice orange juice and wedge instead of the lemon & apple & southern comfort - they were fantastically moreish, but deadly (especially with 151 proof rum).

Using old jam jars means they're even environmentally sound(ish).

 

[knifefan]

Come on then Knifefan. Lots of ideas on here. What have you done with yours?

Lots of great ideas here!! thanks to you all My mint is just about ready to go to seed, so I've plumbed for some mint chutney, mint sauce and gonna freeze the rest

 

[Harvestman]

Pictures please!

Always fun to see what other people have been up to.

 

[TurboGirl]

Pull the plants out by the roots, leaving enough to regenerate of course, and hang them upside down somewhere dry and airy; when dry crush the leaves and store in air-tight jars and use as any other dried herb.
My mother did this with the garden mint all her life and we always had great-tasting and strong mint right through 'till it came again...........apparently, hanging with the roots still on the plant preserves all the essentials
and makes the flavour as good as dried stuff can be. Hope this helps, atb mac

... I always felt you get better regrowth with the fresh roots the next year when they've been 'weeded' like that Quite a few medicinals and other herbs are dried root n all, aren't they?

I wonn't use any of mine, hubs is having an infatuation with his 'Round-Up'.

 

[Mark82]

Or crystalise it by boiling a load of leaves in syrup until dry. Good on ice cream and keeps pretty well.