On Mint

Hi All! I am my small garden is growing and I have a thriving applemint plant. As my wife and I harvest more and more mint we are looking for ways to use our leaves. Everything online is unoriginal.... Seems people only use mint in tea

I was wondering what original ways folks have come to use both fresh and dried mint so that I don't waste any of my harvest! Thanks!

I too struggle to find uses for mint outside of the occasional cocktail.

I will be curious if anybody has clever uses as well.

Make a large canning pot of tea, boil it down to concentrate it, put it in a spray bottle and spray the foundations of the house to deter pests and rodents.
Use it as decoration, hanging on walls or in windows.
Use it as kindling to start fires.
Put a few sprigs into a bottle of white vinegar, let steep for months, dilute vinegar in spray bottles for cleaning with added scent.
Use it as a meat rub.

make tea with it

The Many Health Benefits of Apple mint is a perennial herb plant that grows tall and is sometimes called the woolly mint. This herb grows tall to a height of 40-100 cm and spread as broad foliage. In early times, the Greeks used apple mint to clean their banqueting tables and also added it to their baths to rejuvenate their bodies. Apple Mint can be used in preparing jams, jellies, tea, sauces and desserts. The dried form of apple mint leaves can be used to prepare delicious potpourri. The mint leaves contains nutrients like iron, potassium, calcium, vitamin A and C which replenish our body. The flowers can be used to make tea which if consumed promotes digestion, cures many ailments such as intestine problems, stomach pain and refreshes the mind. Apple mint tea is an excellent choice when a headache strikes or when stomach discomfort begins to spoil your day.

When mint spreads too much I cut it every year for mulch in the garden.

Against most advice, I planted mint in my garden and let it spread, so this kind of thread is right up my alley! Right now, most of my mint simply flowers for pollinators.

Some day, I'm going to make a dessert pesto. I haven't found a recipe that sounds good, so I've been bouncing ideas. Maybe mint, honey, and ground almonds as the base. My next problem is what to do with it, if it's any good. I've pictured a slice of chocolate pound cake, toasted and spread with sweet mint pesto. But what else?

I've baked mint chocolate muffins with fresh mint, and they were pretty good. I'd like to bake mint sugar cookies, too. Most recipes I've found are with mint extract, so finding one with fresh mint has taken some searching or modifications. I made mint extract with my fresh mint...basically a double-infused tincture.

I'd like to try savory uses for mint, like how it's used with lamb or in grain-based salads. That's on my "some day" list, too.

I use lots in tabbouleh.

It's good with steamed potatoes.

I recently had some dolamades that were pretty mint heavy. They were good with fried mushrooms and tomato sauce.

A bit julienned through fruit salad or a herby green salad is nice.

Good in smoothies. Pair with appropriate fruit or with cocoa/carob for choc mint.

One of my favourite summer breakfasts starts with a big glass of watermelon juice. A little bit of mint run through the juicer with the watermelon is what makes it.

Dried mint, powdered up, works well in baking. I've done away with peppermint extract since I started growing mint.

My in-laws go nuts over a mint syrup that one of their neighbours makes. I think it's just a really mint simple syrup that they mixed with carbonated water for a summer drink. (Not quite tea.)

How about adding handfuls of mint to a soap recipe or what about using mint as a addition to the bedding of a coop?