What can you do with fresh peppermint?

[DayLily2008]

You should trim the tops off, so the mint doesnt go to seed.

 

[ozark hen]

MOJITOS I love the mint in them!! Great summer drink, very refreshing!!!

 

[averytds]

Here's a bunch of food recipes. Scroll down. http://www.recipes4us.co.uk/Specials and Holidays/Mint Origin Uses Recipes.htm

More uses. http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976928415 The flea treatment for dogs sounds interesting, wonder if you could use on chickens.

How to make peppermint Aromatherapy oil. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art34752.asp

I wonder if you could steep some in vodka like you can vanilla beans?
Yep - http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-peppermint-extract.htm


Another for essential oils. http://www.aromatherapy-at-home.com/homemade-essential-oils.html

I found tons of beauty recipes from facials to toothpaste.

You can also steam it or boil it, let it cool and then separate the oil from the water. I swear when I was looking into making oil from my lilacs there were little stovetop set-ups for extraction, but I haven't found them at the moment.

HTHs

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I make mint cilantro chutney, which is really good if you like Indian food.

I like to let some flower because the bees absolutely adore the flowers.

 

[averytds]

Just a thought after looking at some of the pricey stills for homes..

Someone correct me if they've tried this and it didn't work. I'm thinking your quality or quantity might suffer some, but not substantially to offset cost difference. What about one of those kitchen steamers? Use distilled water. Set it to max water/time. Put the chopped mint in the basket and turn it on. After it's done, let water evaporate and collect the oils from the drip tray. You can pick up those kitchen steamers pretty cheap.

 

[RedClayGardener]

I make mint juleps with mine. Boil a cup of water and cup of sugar until the sugar dissolves then dump in the mint and let it steep. The longer the better. Then strain out the mint. Pour some over ice cubes and add bourbon. Perfect. You can probably use that mint syrup over other things too. Fruit comes to mind. I also add fresh mint to my tabouleh or you can throw it into the bath after gardening. It is very refreshing but you come out with leaves stuck to you. Enjoy!

 

[vfem]

I like grinding up some in the food processor. Then swirl it around in some water and strain the water into a spray bottle.

When you are outside all day working and getting hot. Its a nice cooling mist to keep out in the yard with you.