Mint: Uses & Storage

[heidih]

I think you got the main idea - nasty. As others noted there are many different mints, but the oil may be the route of less drama and disappointment. I have always kept mint as a last minute add to anything hot or warm like from a Viet herb platter. It is not an oily herb at all so kinda oil & water I think. As always I could be so so wrong.

[paulraphael]

Mint is just about the most fragile herbal flavor. It's an exercise in science (and maybe futility) to get the 3-dimensional flavor of fresh mint into a cocktail that you'll be drinking 2 minutes from now. Getting it into baked goods would require better kung-fu than what I've got. Mint oil is reliable, and can be tasty in minute amounts, but really isn't anything like fresh mint. Same with extract. 

 

If you're going to continue the experiments, maybe try Teo's idea of grinding into the sugar. It would also be interesting to do a butter infusion, but I wouldn't do it hot ... I'd go just warm enough to melt the butter, and hold it covered in a water bath. Taste it periodically, and strain before you start extracting nasty flavors. Solubility should much higher than in water-based liquids. Another possibility is infusing into sugar syrup. Syrups are powerful solvents for non-polar aromatic oils. This might be impractical, because you'd need a more dilute syrup that what's useful in a cookie ... but it might be interesting.

[JeanneCake]

It's not fresh mint but these are nice: https://shop.chefrubber.com/item/505506S/Mint/

[jedovaty]

I'll keep these things in mind.  After 3 weeks, we're still chuckling about how gross the experiment was, but I hope to try some of the techniques here another day, since mom's garden has a huge area of mint growing.  Especially now that I learned I can use other fats instead of the earthbalance sticks (which I think contributed to the pain), it'll open up some alternatives to us.

 

The best takeaway from this: although the results were without a doubt disappointing, we got a really good laugh out of them and learned something.  Let's keep having fun 😎

 

OMG I hope to never smell mint simmering away in coconut milk again 🤢

Edited November 3, 2020 by jedovaty (log)

[Shel_B]

There's quite a bit of nicely dried peppermint leaves that were purchased primarily for one dish in the cupboard.  Even f I make the dish frequently, at the end of a year there will still be a LOT of peppermint remaining.

 

So, are there any ideas for recipes where these leaves can be used?

Edited May 14 by Shel_B
clarity (log)

[pastrygirl]

tea, hot or iced

 

tabbouleh

 

ice cream

[&roid]

I love dried mint in Greek yoghurt with some salt and good olive oil. 
 

Or mixed into yoghurt before making labneh

[TdeV]

I have a book about making various pestos and mint is one of the additions used. I think you could throw in a teaspoon's worth and see how well it works.

 

A couple days ago I baked chicken thighs and added a thick smear of fig/date mustard under the skin — it was delicious. So, perhaps some experimenting with under-the-skin pastes. Say green olives and garlic and dried mint?

[AAQuesada]

I like dried mint in Mexican meatballs, recipes often call for fresh but good quality dried works well / better imo

[Shel_B]

13 minutes ago, AAQuesada said:

I like dried mint in Mexican meatballs, recipes often call for fresh but good quality dried works well / better imo

👍