Mint, Mint Everywhere
April 28, 2008
Posted by CindyC in : Green Journal , trackback
I finally made it to my book club last week to discuss our April reading, “From Grass to Gardens” by Janet Lemke. The reviews on the book were mixed but it did inspire an interesting discussion of different vegetables and herbs to grow in urban yards as well as various uses for these plants. First, it amazed me how many varieties of vegetation people can plant in a small yard: potatoes, chard, tomatoes, chard, lettuce, etc. That’s not including the various berries and citrus and other fruit trees abundant in our area. Second, we all seemed to have unexpected transplants deposited by birds, squirrels and other little creatures, though we don’t always know what to do with these visitors.
For me, the unexpected visitor was mint. A couple years ago, we noticed a strange plant sprouting between the fence and my climbing rose. After a quick touch and sniff, we realized it was mint. Thinking that a little mint is always useful, we left it alone. Within a month, the mint tripled in size and we had lost the opportunity to tame the mint into containers. Mint, as we found out too late, is a vigorous grower and hard to contain once established. Every few months, we would cut the mint back but other than using a few sprigs to make mojitos or as garnish, the rest went into the green waste can.
Inspired by our discussion, I searched the internet for ideas on using mint. To my surprise, there are many ideas. Here are a few of my picks.
- The most common (and easiest) is to add mint to iced or hot tea. Just steep the mint leaves with the tea and discard.
- If you like lamb, mint jelly is a must.
- There are also recipes for candied mint leaves, which looked pretty good. Note that most recipes recommend using only the top 3 to 5 leaves of the sprig for food purposes. Apparently the older leaves may be too pungent.
- Mint can apparently repel moths. To use, tie mint sprigs together and wrap a piece of cheese cloth around it (to catch dry leaf flakes). Hang upside down in the closet with a ribbon.
- In warm weather, use mint to make a refreshing face wash. Just crush a handful of mint leaves and put in a quart of water for one or two hours. Take out the leaves and refrigerate the water until you want to use it.
I’ve already tried mint tea and the mint face wash. Both were winners 
And if you have other ideas, let me know as the mint is getting quite unruly with the warm weather.
CindyC at Organicpicks
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Comments»
I knew I could count on you, Cindy, to tell me what to do with the mint taking over my backyard! Thanks.
mint is great with pineapple and honeydew melon(the greenone) and watermelon, as a sweet or savoury salad. Also with yogurt and cucumber as a dip or sauce like Tzatziki and in a Vietnamese salad or rice noodle rolls (rice noodle, grated carrot, cucumber, spring onions, pork or chicken mince cooked with soy, fishsauce, sugar, chilli and garlic). Vietnamese use lots os mint in their cuisine - its my favourite!
For any one who doesn’t yet have mint, DON’T plant it in the ground, keep it in a pot on the patio. It sends out root runners, even from the bottom of the pot, and you will never ever get rid of it!
I thought I’d gotten rid of mine, finally, and it reappeared this spring with a vengeance! Joyce is right — don’t plant it in the ground! (And I’ve loved chewing on the leaves ever since I was a kid!)
Thanks Cindy and Joyce. I actually like mint and was wondering what else I could plant wouldn’t die too easily. And I’ll grow it in a pot.