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edelweiss
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MINT< MINT< MINT

I still have so much mint in my garden and by gosh, I did everything I could with it. Now what, winter is coming, days are getting chilly. So, can I freeze mint, after I plugged it and washed it? Anybody knows?

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rainbowgardener
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You can freeze mint. Fill ice cube tray slots half way with clean mint leaves and then fill with water and freeze. Once frozen solid, pop the mint cubes out and store them in a zip-lock. Or just spread clean leaves out on a baking sheet. Put the baking sheet in freezer until the leaves are frozen and then store the frozen leaves in a zip-lock.

Did you make mint jelly?

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edelweiss
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Hello, no I did not make mint jelly. How do I do that, dear rainbowgardener?

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rainbowgardener
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The process is the same for making any herbal jelly. I have used this with mint, lavender, green or purple basil. Just make an infusion of the herb, then strain the leaves out and add sugar and pectin to the infusion and boil briefly. Here's one recipe:

https://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Mint-Jelly-2

Do not over process in the canning stage, you can break the pectin back down again. Still not a disaster, you just end up with syrup instead of jelly.

Incidentally, the green basil jelly benefits from a little food coloring as they did here, to make it look appealing. But the purple basil jelly comes out a delightful pink color all on its own, without any food coloring.

I haven't tried them yet, but I have read about other herb jellies - sage, rosemary, lemon thyme, lemon balm...

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rainbowgardener
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Tonight I made blackberry-sage jam and sage jelly. The blackberry sage jam is to die for! :)

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PunkRotten
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Could you use any substitutes for sugar?

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edelweiss
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I thought I plugged all my mint, and by gosh I have more mint growing. Not only is it the end of October, but we had rain, snow-rain,frost and yesterday 22 degree Celsius. Now, you think the mint is still good to plug? I rubbed a leave and it still smells great.Could probably fill 2 -3 large zip-loc bags with it.What do you think. By the way, hello and have a great weekend! :D

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rainbowgardener
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I don't know what you mean by plugging your mint, but sure you can use the stuff that is still coming.

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edelweiss
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And a hello to you too. :D with plugging I mean picking the mint... plugging off the leaves... :)

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rainbowgardener
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I used a very similar recipe to make chrysanthemum flower jelly. In that case it came out a little more sweet than I liked and less flowery. But very pretty!



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