Mint is one of the herbs I love to grow! There's all sorts of different kinds: spearmint, apple mint, ginger mint, pineapple mint, varigated mints, and on and on it goes! Mint is very invasive so you want to plant it where it can grow freely.
I dry the mint for teas in the winter months. I know exactly how our mint is grown (chemical free) and how it's processed. :) Here's how I do it.
I cut it and then bundle it up.
Take a rubber band and put it over the middle of the bundle.
Rap the whole rubber band around the bundle til it's tight.
Take the lose end and put it over the middle of the bundle to secure it.
Now you have a nice bundle to hang in a dry place to dry.
Here's how I hang mine. One caution, as the mint dries, the band will become loose. You may need to tighten it or that may be a sign it's dry enough to store. You can either store them in an air tight glass jar or in a paper bag. You can also open up a paper clip so it looks like a S and use one hook on the rubber band and the other on the clothes hanger.
Once the mint is dry, let the fun begin. Enjoy sipping your mint tea by a cozy fire with a special loved one.
Here's how we seep it. One is a one cup serving and the clear glass one is a two cup serving. I crush the dried leaves and put them into the metal basket and pour boiling water over the mint. I cover it with a pot holder to keep the heat inside or I put a tea cozy over it. I prefer my tea with a teaspoon of honey.
My great-grandmother used to grow herbs in her small retirement apartment garden. The one that made the biggest impression on me was mint. She gave it to us whenever we had an upset stomach.
ReplyDeleteYears later, when I was 14, I found and dug some up that was growing wild on my grandparents' farm and planted it in our backyard in a "wet" corner. It took off. I used to dry it just like that (drove my dad nuts- I hung it in the kitchen) and use it to make tea. I LOVE mint tea- hot, cold, doesn't matter. I've got Josh hooked on it, too :). When we moved here, there was a BUNCH of what I think is apple mint planted next to our driveway. I don't like how close it is to the road ( road dust and all that), so I asked Josh to help me dig up a huge clump and re-planted it in my herb garden. Now I have that and the mint you gave me. That = one very happy camper :).