Sorry about the bad pun, but honestly sometimes it seems mint comes to save the day. Right now we have a well-established bed of it in our garden, and I can find so many uses for it.
It’s been terribly hot and dry so I’ve been picking it and drying it for tea. This mint is good now, but it will be especially good this winter. I’ve also been making small bundles and putting it in ice water for a little flavored water treat. If you like Mojitos like I do, the fresh mint just makes them special. If only I could be sitting in a bar in Cuba by the ocean instead of here. Oh, well, another lifetime.
Iced Mint Water or Tea
Pick mint in the morning when the oils are strongest. Rinse your mint clean then make a little bundle by wrapping a rubber band around the stems. Add the little bundle to ice water. Let steep for a few minutes and enjoy.
Mint Tisane
Pick a nice big bundle of mint.
As in the preceding recipe pick your mint in the morning when the oils are strongest. Rinse your sprigs clean and dry them gently. I take the leavings and sprinkle them around in my veggie garden as a natural pest deterrent. To dry them either hang the bundle in a hot dry room or porch out of the sunlight.
Then I just lay out the sprigs in one layer. I used my fig drying rack lined with a thin layer of cheesecloth.
My fig drying rack is made out of some old hardware cloth that was leftover from some other project. It’s perfect for getting the air circulating all around, which is what you want. If you prefer you can move to the Stoney Creek Valley where I live. The relative humidity is only about 20 percent. Everything dries out really fast!
I think they were dry the next day but I was busy so they went three days. On the third day, I rubbed the leaves off the stems and re-homed the one little spider that had decided to take up residence.
Then I made some delicious tisane, which is what a non-caffeinated hot herbal beverage is called. I put some of our ranch honey in it.