Mint is easy to grow and undeniably refreshing. There's no reason why you shouldn't make it a regular part of your cooking repertoire. Here are a few easy ways to make use of fresh mint in your food, drinks, and even around the house.
Super Salads: Chop up a few leaves and add them to your salad along with some freshly grated ginger and lemon zest. The flavour combo is amazing and adds a great summery flare to your favourite salad.
Jazz up your water: Flavour your water or lemonade with some smashed mint leaves.
Fancy Ice Cubes: Adding chopped mint leaves or even mint tea to your ice cube tray is super cute and makes for fun summer sipping, especially in cocktails! Pop these ice cubes into your guests' drinks at a party or into your blender for a minty smoothie.
Add to your favourite dips and pestos: We love incorporating mint into dips, pestos, hummus, and sauces. For inspiration, try our feta, pea and mint dip.
Chocolate Dipped Mint Leaves! Take fresh mint leaves, one by one, and dip them in your favourite homemade or melted chocolate chips and let chill in the fridge until the chocolate has hardened. Delicious!
Divine Desserts: Mix 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves into chocolate chip cookie dough and bake as usual for wonderfully minty treats.
Juice It: Mint adds an amazing freshness to any pressed juice. Try it with some apple, cucumber and lemon. Mint is also fabulous in smoothies!
Make A Tea: Fresh mint, chopped or even just mashed up a little and added to hot water makes a delicious digestive soothing tea.
Add it to Greek yogurt with berries Berries and mint pair beautifully. Mix plain unsweetened Greek yogurt with strawberries (or mixed berries) and sprinkle with chopped fresh mint.
Tincture it: Chop up your fresh mint, fill a jar and add some organic vodka to the jar and shake, shake, shake. Shake daily for at least 4 weeks, and then strain out the mint and you have a mint medicine tincture (or a mint infused cocktail vodka!)
Fresh Feet: Mint soothes aching feet thanks to the pain-relieving properties in menthol, a compound in mint. Menthol also triggers a cooling sensation, perfect for foot scrubs. Try this one: Combine 1 cup sea salt, 1⁄3 cup olive oil and 6 drops peppermint essential oil. Scrub feet and rinse.
Tummy Tamer: Peppermint tea is an excellent way to ease an upset stomach. Peppermint helps calm the digestive tract and alleviate indigestion, intestinal gas and abdominal cramping.
Breath Saver: You don’t have to rely on mint gum or candies to freshen your breath. A sprig of your favorite fresh mint variety will get rid of bad breath just as well. Simply pluck and chew.
Sunburn Soother: Menthol cools and refreshes the skin, making mint a handy herb to keep around in the summer. Use it to ease sunburn pain by making a strong peppermint tea and refrigerating the mixture for several hours. To use, gently apply to the burned area with cotton pads.
Hiccup Help: Try this homemade concoction to help soothe the diaphragm irritation that can cause hiccups: Pour a glass of lukewarm water, then add a couple squeezes of fresh lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a few mint leaves.
