Using Garden Mint
Mint is easy to grow and has many uses. Lets explore a few of them.
To start we are talking about Peppermint and Spearmint. Peppermint is stronger and has more menthol, I am using spearmint so may want to adjust quantities to your taste.
Mint Tea – 3-4 leaves in a cup, let steep for a few minutes. Serve hot or cold, it’s caffeine free, helps with digestion, and gas.
Mint contains menthol, which helps cut phlegm and mucus, so it is an expectorant. It helps ease a sore throat, headaches and cramps. It’s an antitoxin so it lowers your risks of infections and as well as providing allergy relief.
On the down side it can make heartburn and acid re-flux (GERD) worse.
When tea, just isn’t your cup of tea. Try a Mint Julep!
4-5 mint leaves (crushed to release more mint flavor)
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 oz of bourbon
Shaken and poured over ice.
Mint is refreshing, fresh or dried, it increases flavor, adds aroma and improves appetite.
Dried mint can be used in soups, salads, cookies, salsa, vinaigrettes and stores for about 1-1½ years.
You can make a mint syrup to be used in cocktails and iced tea by boiling water and sugar with mint.
You can make a mint oil for sauces and salads by using olive oil and mint in a jar. Pack jar with leaves and fill with oil, let it set, the oil will take on the scent of mint over time.
Another use is to repel insects. Mix leaves with Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and spray on picnic or camping areas to repel bees and insects. Use outdoors.
To repel insects indoors, take several sprigs, wrap in cheesecloth so the mint can dry and hang in a corner.
Refresh your breath by nibbling on leaf.
What do you do with your mint?
