Mint

[trishna]

Esteemed Chowhounds,

I have a bumper crop of mint in my backyard. Seeking your tips on ways to use it up before the frost hits. I can only drink so many mojitos :)

Many thanks,
t

[joannabar]

What else can you do with chocolate mint besides put it in ice tea or sprinkle over ice cream? That's the kind of mint popping up in my yard! bunnies won't touch it.

[altobarb]

I make a salad that I love with cucumbers, sweet (Vidalia type) onions and lots of chopped mint--the mint brings the sweetness out in the onions. I dress it with plain yogurt, lemon juice and a splash of a good olive oil. Very refreshing for summer.

[jencounter]

I drink a lot of iced tea in the summer, my favorite trick is to brew the iced tea with a huge handful of mint.

[Chocolatechipkt]

Grilled fattoush -- This is a great recipe I found on Epicurious. You can add shrimp/subtract vegetables/do whatever, and it still tastes great. Mint is a key ingredient.

http://areyouhungryyet.blogspot.com/2007/07/more-fattoush.html
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...

[jmckee]

I can't find my copy right now, but Barbara Kafka's magisterial opus "Vegetable Love" has a terrific salsa recipe that uses a lot of mint instead of cilantro. She designed it for a friend who hates cilantro. I made it last summer when our mint was in full-court press. Not only was it good with chips, it made a terrific sauce for grilled fish.

[Harters]

I make a mint relish that'll keep for a couple of years in the cupboard. It's an old recipe so apologies for it not being metric measurements:

0.75pt cider vinegar
1lb sugar
2 teaspoon dry mustard
1lb dessert apples
2 onions
8oz mint leaves
Some raisins

Finely dice the apples and onions and finely chop the mint (a processor is is OK but don't chop to a mush). Bring the vinegar, sugar and mustard up to a simmer and let the sugar dissolve. Take it off the ehat and cool it slightly. Add this to everything else and seal it into jars.

[nomadchowwoman]

This sounds very interesting. What are dessert apples? Apples that are good for eating? Or apples that are good for baking? With this much sugar, I'm guessing tart baking apples??

[Harters]

Dessert apples - suitable for eating raw. As opposed to cooking apples (like Bramley or Howgate Wonder) which normally need to be cooked with something and, also, usually cook down to a mush.

But you're right - this is quite a sweet relish. I would look for a fairly sharp apple to use - Granny Smith would be ideal. Maybe also cut down the sugar a tad but increase the vinegar so you've still got good preservatives.

[nomadchowwoman]

Thank you. Another use for my mint crop.

[Harters]

Looking through my notes, I see I also made an apple and mint chutney about 10 years back which I rated as pretty good.

This was 1lb apples, 1lb onion, 1lb raisins, 1lb sugar, 0.5lb tomato, enough finely chopped mint to fill a 1 pint jug; 1 pint cider vinegar, 2 tablespoon mustard seed, 2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper.

The apples, onion and tomato get whizzed in the processor almost to a mush in this case. Then everything goes in the preserving pan and slowly simmered until its thick - probably a couple of hours. Again this will easily keep a couple of years in the cupboard.

Both recipes are good with cold roast lamb or pork - either on a sandwich or with a salad. My notes tell me the chutney was good with lamb curries ( and I wonder why I havnt made it more recently).

[PamelaD]

a coworker of mine just recommended this to me: spinach mint soup from epicurious:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[JungMann]

Mint juleps
Cucumber vodka lemonade with mint
Chutney
Zucchini and mint
Minted peas
Dried for tea
Southeast Asian salad
Boiled in simple syrup with jalapenos to flavor cocktails
Gremolata

[DebL]

Mint syrup, basically a simple syrup made by adding crushed mint at the end of boiling (if added too early it can get bitter). Use in iced tea, lemonade, on fruit salad, ice cream, cake, custards ...

[homemadeeasy]

Mint jelly (for use with Lamb)
Mint ice cream (homemade vanilla is great with mint)
freeze it for use in brownies
tea

Hope this helps

[Normandie]

Along the same lines as your mint ice cream suggestion: White chocolate bark with finely chopped mint and crushed chocolate cookies is yummy.

Also, mint pesto (mint, garlic, pinenuts or pistachios) to serve with lamb

And the best hamburger in the state of Rhode Island (IMHO)...The Black Pearl's Pearl Burger accompanied by mint salad served in a Syrian pocket. Here's the recipe at the end of this Providence Journal article: http://www.projo.com/food/content/fd-...

Oh! Basic, but worthy: minted peas or minted carrots.

[Querencia]

Tabbouleh. Soak two cups of bulgur in a big bowl of cold water while you chop a LOTof mint, parsley, and scallions. Press all the water out of the bulgur, salt to taste, mix in the mint and parsley, and season with lemon juice and a little olive oil. Some people add chopped tomato and cucumber but I don't as they make the tabbouleh wet; without them it will hold a week in the refrigerator---also I don't add garlic as the lemony-minty flavor is so delicate.

[p.j.]

I like to put a sprig of fresh mint in my water bottle every day. Smush it up before you drop it in. Refreshing. p.j.

[nomadchowwoman]

Here's a thread on mint suggestions from a few months ago:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/634800

Another thing I like to do is make mint mayonnaise--puree mint w/olive oil and then whisk it into mayo. It is great on lamb sandwiches. (I've been known to dip a lamb rib chop or two--or lamb "lollypops"-- into it.

[cimui]

Cool idea, mint mayo.

[hankstramm]

Burmese or Thai Mint and Lamb (beef). Awesome use for it. Mint yogurt sauces. You can puree it and freeze it too.

[nomadchowwoman]

Do you have a favorite recipe for the Burmese or Thai Mint lamb? Can you point me to one?

[todao]

What variety of mint do you have?

[trishna]

todao, is there such a thing as plain old garden variety mint? It is the final survivor of a mixed herb planter purchased at Metro in the beginning of summer...

[todao]

Well, the plain old garden variety of mint is usually called just that, "garden mint", and spearmint or lamb mint are perhaps the two most common varieties. The only reason I asked was that there are perhaps thirty or more varieties of mint and some work better in some recipes than others.
I like the suggestions made by hankstramm. Mint goes with anything chocolate, and you could try some as an ingredient in your french toast batter or perhaps in a donut batter. But mint is not something that everyone likes so be careful not to offer it to someone who would rather have some other herb with their breakfast.