With the power to aid digestion, freshen breath, calm farts and nausea, mint is an ideal culinary herb. Forget counting sheep, counting all the flavors of mint would lull anyone to sleep~peppermint, spearmint, Mormon mint, chocolate mint, ginger mint and on and on into dreamland.
Mint leaves and flowers are edible and one of the safest herbs to use. Mint can be used fresh or dry. To preserve mint hang it upside down in bundles to dry or freeze chopped leaves with a little water in ice cube tray.
While some may only think of drinking their mint in infused water, others like it added to mojitos and mint juleps or in a mint jelly served with ham or lamb. Mint is widely used in Middle Eastern, East Indian, Greek and Asian cooking. My co~worker Maria Baher Olomi shared with me a delicious baked sliced egg plant topped with yogurt and spearmint sauce. Mint added to your beans, lentils help to counteract their “wind” inducing properties. A few leaves and flowers make an edible garnish or a nice addition to your green salad. My favorite is a toss up between East Indian mint chutney and mint mixed in with cooked ground pork after it has chilled. Paddy Watters Feller suggested adding mint to spring rolls with peanut sauce and also to watermelon feta salad. Also try chopped mint mixed with cantaloupe or in a mixed fruit salad. Deb Hegemann suggested apple mint with grilled pineapple. Mint, ginger and mango in salsa rocks. Mint makes a versatile simple syrup or paired with lavender in anything you use lavender.
Going back to drinks. Chocolate mint in my humble opinion makes a great infused water. Just cut some chocolate mint, scrunch it in your fist to release the flavor, then put it in a jar 1/3 full, then fill the remainder with warm water and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Another favorite is to use mint tea as a substitute for the water when making limeaide. Take it up a notch by adding a pealed blended cucumber to the limeade~adult beverage optional.
If you only want to know about the eating part stop reading here, but my Celtic blood would like to add some stories to address the fear factor of planting mint in your garden. l admit I am an admirer of aggressive plants~they make your job of gardening easier because you don’t have to pamper them. At my old house I used the hell strip between the sidewalk and the curb as a battle royal of aggressive plants. For the record gooseneck loosestrife (the only plant I like in mass plantings) kicked the mint to the curb. Some people say to only plant mint in a pot not in your garden, but to my mind since mint’s roots spread along the ground they are easy to pull. If you have a difficult day in the office pulling up a long string of mint is therapeutic and no one gets hurt. In Greek mythology the story is told of Hades’ affair with a nymph named Minthe (mint). Hades’ wife, Persephone, not to happy with the affair turned Minthe into a plant that crawled on the ground out of the realm of her husband. Hades made the plant smell good so everyone would love her as much as he did.
Seriously the only mint I ever regretted planting was banana mint. I’d never seen banana mint, so I figured it must not be hardy. Well I was wrong and it had the most repulsive smell. Twila Fairbanks told me if you have an herb taking over your garden it means you aren’t using it enough. So next time someone says don’t plant mint in your garden it is invasive, smile and think more for me you poor unimaginable soul. How do you eat mint and what is your favorite mint?
Postscript~When I was in Morocco there was a man with a cart bringing water around to the venders. He had a large plastic container of water with mint stems roped around the outside. I am wondering if the mint was to keep away the flies. I’ve also read that some people think mint purifies the water. If anyone knows the reason for the mint surrounding the water container please let me know.
