Mint Madness

The world of herbs is a wonderful place. The fresher the better, and most are not hard to grow. One of the easiest to grow and most versatile in the kitchen is mint.  There are numerous varieties to choose from as well...from your standard peppermint or spearmint to those with hints of other flavors such as chocolate mint!  Apple mint has big fat furry leaves with a hint of, you guessed it, apple.  While mint is easy to grow, the downside is that it can take over a flower bed.  I grow it in wild areas, where I don't care what it takes over, or in a container on the deck.  It does fairly well in a container - just make sure to keep it watered and in a shady spot.  I also recommend that when you are purchasing a mint plant, make sure you take a bite of a leaf before you buy.  There are some varieties sold in the big box stores that are tasteless and not worth the effort.  Make sure you have a flavorful one - these tend to have sturdy stems and leaves and have a darker green color compared to, say, the color of basil, although not always - taste, taste, taste - that's the key.  To find the more interesting varieties you'll probably need to visit a real nursery or order online.

In the kitchen mint features in both savory and sweet dishes, as well as making a killer cuppa tea.  I also use mint to flavor simple syrup for sweetening ice tea, hot chocolate, adding a boost to mojitos or watermelon-cucumber-mint margaritas (blog post coming later on this one!).  Making mint simple syrup is, as it is titled, simple.  In a small pan mix 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar, bring slowly to a boil until the sugar is dissolved.  Turn heat off and add about 1/2 cup fresh coarsely chopped mint (normally, when you chop mint you'd remove the leaves first and only chop those, but for this you can chop the entire stem of leaves - a little stem won't matter a bit since you strain it all out).  Let steep for 5 minutes and then strain through cheesecloth or a coffee filter and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.  It keeps about a week or two.  You can adjust the quantities if you just remember 1:1:1/2 sugar:water:fresh mint leaves.

Some of my other favorite ways to use chopped fresh mint are in a spicy minced lamb (or beef) and peas dish from Pakistan, tabouli, shortbread dipped in chocolate, Vietnamese lettuce wraps, watermelon mint sorbet...I could go on.  If any of these pique your interest, just let me know and I'll post about it.

What's your favorite way to use mint?