MINT, what can I use it for ???

[Gary350]

Before frost kills my mint I need to find a use for it. My mint reseeds itself every year and the patch gets larger and larger every year.

I picked a very large hand full and chopped it on the kitchen cutting board. It makes the whole house smell good.

What else can I do with mint???????????

[rainbowgardener]

mint tea, mint julep, mojitos, mint jelly, put it in lemonade, garnishes, add it to hot chocolate, top your ice cream. Throw some in salad. If you have lots of it, you can make the essential oil of mint.

Hints for using mint in the kitchen:
- Spice Up Your Vegetables: Put mint in water used to steam vegetables.
- Mint tea: To make peppermint tea, use 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried peppermint leaves per cup of boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes.
- Minty potatoes: Mix chopped mint with butter for boiled new potatoes (or with parsley or dill).
- Minty rice: Toss whole mint leaves in cooked rice before serving.
- Mint Ice Cubes: Freeze whole mint leaves in ice cubes for tea or lemonade.
- Minty Salad Dressing: Make salad dressing with mint, lemon juice, vinegar and a light oil.
- Spice up your tuna: Chop spearmint and mix with olive oil and use as a marinade for fresh tuna. Marinate 30 minutes, grill.
http://www.mintrubbing.org/themintplant.pdf

[ZacchaeusCrawford]

Chefs like to make grilled lamb chops with mint sauce.
You can adjust this recipe by adding more or less acid (lime juice, lemon juice, vinegar etc)

1 c sugar
1 c water
(Boil together for 1 minute)
1 ea lime
(add in and stir)
1 c chopped mint
(add last after removing mixture from heat)

Boil Sugar and water together without stirring for one minute. Squeeze lime in to simple syrup (sugar&water mixture) and stir until liquid is consistent. Remove from heat if proper thickness. Stir in chopped mint.

if you need thicker sauce, you may use a
slurry:
1T cornstarch (or arrowroot)
2 oz cold water
Mix until all starch is dissolved. Very slowly, add to hot mixture.

To thicken, Must add slurry while sauce is very hot.


For the lamb: grill lamb chops in marinade of:

2 oz FRESH Chopped Parsley
2 oz FRESH Finely Minced Rosemary
1 clove Garlic
2 oz peanut oil (higher burn point than olive oil = better for grilling)

*may substitute peanut oil with 4 ounces plain low-fat yogurt for healthier dish (many oils may be substituted this way)




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Lebaneese dish that is very good:

Tabbouleh of Quinoa

4 Cups Prepared Quinoa (or Bourghal / cracked wheat / israeli cous cous)
Chilled completely.
2oz fresh chopped parsley
2 oz fresh chopped mint
1 ea lemon squeezd of its juice
2 oz onion
1 oz olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste (<very important)

I chose quinoa to make tabbouleh with because of the protein quality and the amazing completeness of nutrition quinoa provides. Can be boiled using stock *such as swansons* or in plain water. boil until grain's outer shell becomes translucent and hyoptonic.

Mix all fresh chopped herbs and vegetables with the cooled and seasoned quinoa. add lemon and olive oil. may use zest for extra color and better presentation. Season to taste.

my mom likes grilled eggplant diced medium in it.


Zacchaeus Crawford, C.C.

[a0c8c]

Mint goes well with Lamb and Venison. I season our venison with salt, pepper, mint and marjoram, grilled like a steak, and it's delicious.

[emerald7]

I know this is a long time after the original post. I cook a fair amount with fresh mint, and the majority of it gets used in A) Middle Eastern or Greek dishes containing lamb or beef, or B) Some kind of Vietnamese food, often noodles.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Becky adds it to carrots and you wonder why you ever did it any other way...

And I make tea; I mix the regular stuff with mountain mint and will probably add bee balm just as soon as I get enough to start making tea with...

HG

[Sage Hermit]

: O Tyme for mint and sage tea.
Old Sage is all for the mint tea. so good :'( w/ local honey.

[applestar]

Peppermint, Spearmint, Applemint, Lemon Balm, Bee balm, Lemon grass, and when I want it a little sweet, a few leaves of Stevia in each pot of tea.

Don't forget the mint flowers -- bees love them and so do I.

[MC Mixin Bricks]

i use it to keep my dad away, lol

[StorageSmart2]

I make a feel better tea with the following;

peppermint (relaxation), catnip(relaxation), sage(sore throats), orange zest(oranges are from the store. immunity booster), slippery elm(I buy this one from a local herbalist. It's for sore throats), elder flower(also bought from herbalist. it helps to reduce a fever), and lavender(relaxation).

The most important part is to not add too much lavender. It has a wonderful aroma, but is very bitter to the taste. A quarter of a teaspoon per cup is too much.

Another idea is to make massage oils. Take a clear jar or bottle with a lid and fill it 3/4 of the way full with grapeseed oil or sunflower oil. I find grapeseed oil works best, but I think it's personal preference. Then, place some broken leaves in. Again depending on preference, I crush mine by hand before tossing them in, but a friend of mine likes to chop them.

Leave it on the window sill in the sun for about a week depending on how many leaves you use and how much sun a day you get. Gently slosh it around in the jar once a day to mix up the oil so that all of the mint oils aren't stuck at the bottom. At the end of the week, run it through a cheesecloth to take out anything solid and you have a homemade massage oil.

Takes a couple of tries to get it the way you want it to be. The first massage oil I ever made was so overpoweringly strong that I called it "Meadow Suprise" because it smelled like someone smashed your face into a flower filled meadow and rubbed it in. It was pretty bad, I ended up throwing it out eventually.... I'm getting better at it, though.

[cherishedtiger]

Well I see I was late to reply to this, but my answer would be what cant you do with it!!
Tea is one of my favorite uses, mint has a natural ability to ease stomach upset. As well as it has a nice slight calming affect. You can add it to your common tea whatever flavor you drink now. As mint straight is a bit strong.
Teas are great, and you can dry it as well as use it fresh!

[WatchMeShove]

You could always try making some mint toothpaste.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Sipping my tea as we speak. Won't keep me up, but keeps me alert...

HG

[Gone_Tropical]

another use for mint... and I prefer chocolate mint leaves for this one, is Mint Liquor

[kmd]

you can make a jelly with it,
dried mint is good to help with rodent issues ; in little pouches seems to help control them . I have spearmint and the chocolate varitey ( i have grown accustom to smelling every chance i can ..lol) all mints are invasive !!! i learned the hard way ..
I also make tea out of them

[The Helpful Gardener]

Doing a weed walk the other day I was stunned by the amount of narrow leaved mountain mint I found in the field we were walking. THOUSANDS of plants.

And good for everything above... I love mountain mint tea, but I don't have this species, so I'm going back to get plants this weekend...

HG

[LindsayArthurRTR]

MOJIIIIIIIIIITOOOOOOOS! Yum!

[The Helpful Gardener]

HG