Grow some mint and have fun cooking. (Mint)

Member Name: jo@145

Product:	Mint
Date:	20/03/09 (331 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fresh flavour

Disadvantages: None

Mint is my favourite herb, I love to rub the leaves and smell the fragrant aroma, picking fresh mint from the garden and adding to a pan new potatoes, emits such a lovely smell that reminds me of summer. It is so easy to grow, in fact it is very hard to get rid of it in the garden so be careful where you plant it as it will take over the garden.

For gardeners it is a hardy perennial and will do well in both sunny and shady parts of the garden and also thrives in pots, which is where I now grow it. There are three main types that people grow in their gardens the Pennyroyal mint, Peppermint and Spearmint, but actually there are over 3,500 species!

Mint can be bought in small pots and planted in to a larger pot or the garden or grown from seed, I prefer buying a pot as it means you can soon start picking it for use. It is easy to grow from breaking off a bit with a root and transplanting it. It is one of those plants that anyone can grow as it doesn't need much attention, although if grown in a pot it will need watering should we have a hot dry summer - in other words it doesn't need any attention as we rarely have a hot dry summer! When you see flowers appearing these although pretty should be picked out as it stops the leaves growing. Occasionally orange marks appear on the underside of the leaves, this is called rust and the leaves should be removed and if possible burned to destroy it. Not many other diseases seem to affect mint though.
I pick or cut off pieces of mint as needed, it is better to pick from the top of the plant as this makes it grow bushier.

Towards the end of the summer I usually pick most of the leaves and make mint jelly to use throughout the winter with Roast Lamb, although it means making a jelly and is time consuming it tastes so much better than bought mint jelly. Leaves can also be dried and sealed in a jar or frozen to use later, it is best to pick in the early morning when the oils are strongest.
Mint is used for lots of everyday things, most people use mint toothpaste, suck mints, chew gum, some drink mint tea and also many enjoy mint ice cream or a lovely cool liqueur. Dried mint makes lovely refreshing tea, steep 1 or 2 teaspoons in a cup of boiling water. Add fresh mint when cooking fresh or frozen peas and add mint to fruit punch and it always looks good as a garnish for desserts especially when using strawberries. Mix chopped mint with yogurt as a refreshing dish called tzatziki, the Greek cousin of raita.
And did you know Mint was famous in Mythology, known then as "Minthe" who was a nymph and Pluto's lover. When Persephone his wife found out she was angry and turned Minthe into a lowly plant, to be trod upon. Pluto gave Minthe a sweet scent when her leaves were stepped on.

And lastly here is a quick recipe using mint.
Ingredients :
1kg fresh or frozen peas
10 mint leaves (+ a few to garnish)
200ml chicken stock
200ml cream
2 tsp rock salt
Salt and freshly-ground pepper


Method
Cook the peas in 200ml boiling stock with salt for around 3 minutes (if you're using frozen peas, don't defrost them, just cook for 1 minute longer).

Drain and set aside the cooking juice. Run the peas under the cold tap to cool them and then mix with the mint leaves, cream and half the cooking juice.

Add the cooking juice bit by bit until you get the consistency you want.

Serve in bowls, season and garnish.

Mint is a really useful herb to grow in your garden or patio and adds a subtle flavour to meals.

Summary: Mint is a useful cooking plant.