Tuesday, November 26, 2013

SAVE YOUR GARDEN MINT

I have a container garden every year. I love this 
type of gardening because there is no weeds to
pull! I place the buckets in long rows beside my
white picket  fence.  They look very pretty all
line up. I  go mint plant crazy and buy chocolate, orange, grapefruit, peppermint, and sweet mint varieties.  Mint is like gossip, it goes all over the
place. I keep it contained by planting the mint 
in  buckets from the Dollar  ree.  I also have 
varieties of basil and thyme too.  I draw designs
on the buckets so they don't look so plain. 

The dilemma I had was, what to do with all of 
those herbs. I saw a lady on TV preserve her 
herbs by putting them in ice trays with a little
water added.  I tried this but, I didn't like how 
the herbs looked. I saw another version on 
Pinterest  that used  olive oil instead of water.
This method was much better.





 





FREEZE FRESH HERBS IN OLIVE OIL


You always have fresh herbs, whether they are
in season or not.  Freezing the herbs in oil also
prevents them from turning brown or getting
that dreaded freezer burn. Throw them in soup, stews, vegetables, meat dishes.








TEAPOT FOR MINT TEA






GARDEN FRESH MINT TEA 




5 Stalks of Fresh Mint
4 cups Boiling Water
Sugar Honey, to taste


Bring 4 cups of water to a boil.  Roll the mint
between your palms until it is slightly crushed.
Place in a teapot. Pour boiling water over the
crushed mint. Cover the teapot, and let it steep
for 5 minutes. 



MINT LEMONADE TEA
10 cups Boiling Water
10 Tea Bags
5 Stalks of Mint
12 oz can thawed Lemonade Concentrate


Combine water, tea bags and mint in large pot.
Let steep 15 minutes and remove tea bags. Stir
in concentrate. Pour into a large pitcher and chill
in the refrigerator about one hour, or until ready
to serve.





OTHER CREATIVE USES FOR MINT:
Sweet Mint makes refreshing flavored water 
drink. Add water, bunch of mint leaver, and ice
to a pitcher.
 
Chocolate Mint can be finely chopped and added
to frosting, hot chocolate, and chocolate cakes and cookies.
Peppermint/Spearmint leaves can be used
to flavor oils. Add clean dry leaves to pan of oil.  
Heat 30 minutes  over very low heat or until oil
has fragrance of mint.  Cool and store in clean
and store in clean jar in refrigerator.  Add to 
chocolate desserts or salad dressing.















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