Mint Uses

Mint and I have a love- hate relationship.  It thinks I should only grow it, I think I'd like some variety, but I do use it.

My goal is to harvest it down to reasonable, i.e. nothing left except the containered one. So I have been coming up with as many uses as I can for it.

Tabouli
Mint yogurt sauce for falafel
Mint extract
Mint icecream
Mint liqueur
Mint jelly for lamb
Mint-basil pesto
Mint tea
Mint and garlic as falafel seasoning
Mint mixed drinks
Chocolate covered mint leaves
Chocolate chip mint cookies
Chocolate-mint cake balls
Chocolate-mint latte
Chocolate mint cake..
(I guess anything chocolate mint really)
...Mint decorative leaves
Mint extract in homemade deodorant
Mint extract in homemade bruise/sore muscle rub
Mint extract in cleaners
Mint dried in potpourri
Mint as an antinauseant
Mint for sore throats

Mint and cucumber slices in a jug of ice water - so refreshing!

Mint and lamb go together exquisitely. Minced lamb, onion, parsley, mint, garlic, and a spicy pepper all blended together make for a great meat mixture. Put it on rice, in a pita, however you wish. I also love mint in rice-noodle based salads and rolls (think vermicelli and spring rolls).

… and of course, my favorite use: mint juleps!

Don't forget breath freshener and toothpaste flavoring

Some of the nutrition info for 2 tbsp fresh mint.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/spices-and-herbs/226/2

Mix minced leaves with cream cheese for a spread for crackers.

Add chopped mint to applesauce, baked apples, or fruit compotes.

Blend chopped mint with orange juice.

Put sprigs in salads.

Well, of course, ifyou don't want to make everything you eat and drink out of mint, then you can use it as mulch on other planting areas

Rebecca,  mint here roots too easy to use as mulch.

Here is a recipe for mint syrup: http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2016/08/simple-mint-syrup-recipe.html

Basically a simple syrup with mint flavoring.

The 6yo girls here just worked on some candied mint leaves. They also thought marshmallow mint and chocolate would be yummy.

Me and my daughter planted two strawberry plants in her little 8'x2' plot.
I cleared a square foot of soil for them.
A week latter, I checked on them-they were no where to be seen.
Careful weeding of the MINT that had covered it, revealed them, barely alive.
I added circles of cardboard mulch, to give the strawberry plants a chance.


I dried my gleanings in the microwave, then I saw this thread, so thank you!

It's that time of year again!

I keep a dropper bottle (alcohol tincture) of peppermint in my car for headaches and nausea. I also have peppermint infused oil, with rose and rosemary for headaches. It's a great digestive. You can take the mint tea 1/2 hour before meals to aid in digestion. Good luck putting all that mint to use! I adore invasive plants....they're so easy to grow!

Cooking it into hydrosol, great to spray around, brilliant natural air refresher in the car.

Thank you for this thread!

I love mint, and would really love to use more of it.

Another use can be bug repellent. Most bugs don’t like to be around it.

Has anybody incorporated dried and crushed mint into soap? I don't mean using mint oil, that has been done to death. I mean incorporating the entire leaf so that you have an abrasive bar that also has the benefits of mint aroma. I should have Googled this first, so here I go.

I found several examples on Google Images. Turns out you can crush up just about any herb and put it into soap. Some just crushed it and others ran it through a coffee grinder and powdered it. I assume it will be mildly abrasive. The bars with bigger chunks will probably leave a residue in the sink that has to be rinsed out. Seems like a lot less fuss than trying to extract essential oils.

I know that most animals don't like to eat mint and that mint is repellent to many insects. So it seems like a good thing to mix with bedding.

Weevils get into grains that are stored. I wonder if mint would be a deterrent. Seems like it would be easy enough to sort out of the grain when cooking, and if you miss a bit, it won't do any harm.

I made mint soap last year with real dehydrated mint. It doesn't imbue it with much smell. Or abrasion. Oatmeal and cornmeal were much better for grit. I used essential oils for smell anyways. So what does it add exactly....? It looks cool. 😎

Also, my bunnies will eat it. So thats what I do with it when my patch is committing yard invasion.

Boiled small zucchini cut lengthwise in quarters, with salt/condiments,  and fresh mint leaves, Italian recipe, nice on a hot day.