If you have an herb or vegetable garden, chances are you are starting to get some benefit to all that work you put into it this Summer! My personal favorite herb in our entire garden is probably the mint! Mint is the EASIEST herb to grow because it is like a weed in that it will pop up where you didn't even plant it and survive whether you want it to or not! So before we jump into the 3 great uses for dried mint, I want to share with you how to dry mint in the first place!
The first thing you should do is trim back all of your mint! You don't have to worry about cutting it in the correct place because it's pretty resilient that way and will come back up, so trim away as much as you want or need. Basically, I just grab a scissors and cut it back a handful at a time, two to three inches from the ground.
Once you have trimmed it, rinse it off and get any dirt off of the leaves as best you can. It is best to do this prior to pulling the leaves from the stem, and I basically just submerge it in a large bowl of cold water and rub all the leaves with my hands to be sure the dirt is off. Then I rinse them once more under cold running water and shake them off. Next, we take it back outside, shake off any excess water, and sit down with your largest bowl. Set the mint in one big pile, and enjoy the sun for this next part because it can be a little bit time consuming.
Pull the leaves off of the stem and toss them in the bowl. Yep, leaf by leaf, all of them off of the stems, into the bowl. Put some music on or listen to the birds, whatever helps you pass the time but all of the stems must go. Try not to get little stem slivers into the bowl of leaves. Once you have a bowl filled to the tip top with leaves and the stems are all discarded, you can move on to the next step.
It's as simple as laying a towel across your counter and spreading the leaves out evenly so that they are not clumped together and are able to air out. I have seen this done in the oven on a baking sheet, but I feel that letting them dry on their own maintains the quality of the leaf a bit better. (It's also much cheaper to do it this way if you consider how long you have to leave your oven on in order to bake. That's my own opinion but if you want to speed up the process and save some counter space, you can certainly do it that way if you prefer!)
Flip the leaves every few hours, at least two or three times each day to make sure they are getting air on all sides. Once they are crunchy and don't feel at all soft, even crumble in your hand (about 4 or 5 days) you can stick them in a food processor and blend them until they are a nice smooth "spice" consistency. Store it in an airtight container or jar, preferably in a dry, dark cabinet shelf!
3 USES FOR MINT
Time to enjoy the fruit of your labor!
1. Mint Tea
For 2 c. of tea, scoop 2 tsp. of dried mint leaf into a metal tea ball and steep in 2 c. of boiling water for 10 minutes. (You can also do this with the fresh leaves, and frankly I prefer the fresh leaves. But when Winter comes, you do what you can with what you have.)
2. Pest Repellent
I will be honest here and tell you that I have never tried this one personally but have heard many swear by it. So don't take my word for it, but it doesn't hurt to try it should you feel like giving it a shot. Basically, you just fill small mesh bags (Or nylon stockings) with dried mint leaves, and place them in drawers to get rid of insects, moths, and even mice.
3. Jazz Up Your Salad
Roughly dice up a few cucumbers, a nice tomato or two, some basil, mint, and some mayo. Sprinkle with salt and you have yourself the best summer salad EVERRR! Trust me on this one. (Again, fresh basil/mint leaves are ideal, but... you know.)
There you have it! How to dry mint, and 3 reasons why you should! Do you have mint in your garden? Why or why not? If you have more ideas for dried mint uses, feel free to drop a comment under the blog post!!! I would love to hear what kind of ways you would add to the list!
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