Using Fresh Peppermint

Do you have fresh peppermint growing in your yard?  If you do then you might be frustrated with how quickly it grows and spreads.  How about finding a positive in all that spreading peppermint?  It is edible after all and there are MANY ways you can use it to your advantage!  Don't have peppermint in your yard? You can also buy it fresh or dried in the store but you would be best served to just get one small plant at the store or from a friend and plant it in a sunny location in your yard.  Pretty soon you will have a lot more growing and you can take advantage of the benefits every day too! 

Picking & Storing the Leaves:

• Pick an entire sprig of the top portion of the plant or just pick individual leaves as needed. Choose leaves that are a nice vibrant green. They will be the freshest.
• You can store the fresh mint in your refrigerator. Simply place the sprigs in a glass of water covered with a baggie and place on a shelf where it will not be knocked over.  You will need to change the water when it is no longer clear, but the mint will last quite a while this way. This is especially good if you  don't have the luxury of just walking out your door and picking it fresh off the plant as needed.  

Ice water

Fresh Steeped Tea

A few ways (my favorites) to use Peppermint:

• ​Add a leaf or two to a glass of water
• Add  leaf or two to a glass of iced tea
• Chop up some fresh peppermint leaves and add them to your salad
• Make a cup of fresh peppermint tea (see how here!)
• Make mint jelly to accompany pork dishes

Thanks for visiting!

Sincerely,