My mint is trying to take over my life right now.
Now I’m not exactly complaining, because with the gardening year I’ve had thus far, I’m just happy to see something, anything, growing out there…
It hasn’t been a good growing season for my poor little garden. I suspect I have an issue with contaminated compost, and while I can’t say for absolute certain yet, it ain’t pretty… As I wrote in my newsletter last week, my carefully tended heirloom tomato plants have the strangest rolled leaves, even though the plants are still alive. None of my beans, beets, or kohlrabi sprouted, and I’ve been scratching my head and wondering what on earth is going on. I am working on getting to the bottom of it, and once (if?) I get it figured out, I will definitely update y’all here on the blog.
But back to the crazy mint… As many of you know, mint is super easy to grow, and once it’s established, it tends to take over. I put in a mere handful of plants this year, and they have grown exponentially.
So the million dollar question is: what do ya do with a bountiful mint harvest? Well, thankfully, you got options folks. Lots of options. You can make homemade garden pest repellent with it, add it to your chicken’s nesting boxes to freshen things up, or make homemade mint extract.
Last year I experimented with this simple mint syrup recipe and the Prairie Husband has been asking for it ever since. We use it to make mint sweet tea, but you can add it to homemade cocktails as well. It’s herb-y (herb-ish?) and fresh, without being overpowering.
Take that, you crazy mint plants!
Simple Mint Syrup Recipe
- 1 cup roughly chopped mint leaves
- 1 cup granulated sugar OR 1/4 cup honey
- 1 cup water
Instructions:
- Add the water and sugar/honey to a slow simmer in a saucepan
- Add the mint leaves, and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove the mint leaves from the syrup and discard them.
- Store the mint syrup in the fridge in a sealed jar for for one to two months.
To Make Mint Iced Tea:
Add 1/2 cup of simple mint syrup per two quarts brewed iced tea, or to taste. Stir well and serve.
Mint Syrup Notes:
- I have a variety of mint plants, including spearmint, and I just add them all to this recipe. I’m not picky.
- I have tried white sugar, as well as coconut sugar for this recipe. Feel free to experiment with any other natural granulated sugar as well.
- Keep in mind that if you are using raw honey in this recipe, the simmering process will negate many of the benefits of the raw honey.
- Using a unrefined sugar, like coconut sugar, will give you a darker syrup. Honey or white sugar results in a light yellow syrup.
- You can totally double, triple, or quadruple this one!
Other Summer Beverage Ideas:
- Honey Sweetened Lemonade
- Homemade Mason Jar Straw Cups
- Homemade Chocolate Milk Syrup
- Orange Creamsicle Milkshake
- 1 cup roughly chopped mint leaves
- 1 cup granulated sugar OR ¼ cup honey
- 1 cup water
- Boil water and sugar.
- Add mint leaves and simmer on low for 15 minutes.
- Remove the leaves from the syrup and discard them.
- Store the mint syrup in the fridge in a sealed jar for up to 1 month.
- To Make Mint Iced Tea:
- Add ½ cup of mint syrup per 2 quarts brewed iced tea, or to taste. Stir well and serve.
Alas, yours is not the only garden that has decided to sit this year out. I sit an hour north of you and last year I canned 14 quarts and 12 pints of tomatoes, this year I barely have enough to eat. Same with the beans and the cucumbers. Even the zucchini isn’t producing!! Will try again next year!
Such a bummer! 🙁
Hi Jill and All, I’m in Northern Arizona, 5600 elev. like most of you, very poor garden also. Neighbors and I have had to hand pollinate. One of my neighbors had a “Honey Farm”, hated the extra bees but loved the bounty. Hives were destroyed by contamination. No bees, poor yield!
Ya, my garden isn’t doing so great either. I was ecstatic when we got some free straw from a friend to help with the mulching, but now I’m wondering what exactly is in that straw. Ironically, the weeds are a good 7 feet tall. (Two kids got married within 2 weeks. Then I had to recover. The weeds are only that tall in some beds – not in others and things still aren’t doing well in the tended beds.)
Great timing on this recipe as I just gave my mint a haircut this morning! I also have chocolate mint and bet that would be yummy as a syrup. I wonder if you could can this syrup. Hot, sterilized jars, hot syrup? By the way, even my mint, which is supposed to be a crazy invasive nuisance of a perennial, had trouble getting started this year.
I’m wondering if my hay/straw is contaminated as well… Working on getting to the bottom of it. Here’s a link I found re: canning syrups: http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/simple-syrup-video/
I’m going to have to subscribe to the newsletter! I agree, you probably got some persistent herbicide in your compost. http://compostingcouncil.org/persistent-herbicide-faq/ I wasn’t able to get a garden in at all this year, but I have wild mint all over my property, so I may make this just to feel like I’ve harvested something! (I did grow lots of baby chickens and two calves though.)
haha– yes! that’s kinda the same boat I’m in this year– using my mint helped me feel like I got to at least harvest something. I’m wondering about the herbicide as well.
could you use stevia leaf in place of the sweetener and strain it out with the leaves?
i think i will turn that..
Worth a try! Let me know how it works!
My garden did much the same thing and I am in Oklahoma. Re planted Tomatoes after the first 24 plants curled and grew towards the ground! Pepper plant leaves did the same thing. Only the root vegetables did well, but only for a short period of time. I am blaming the heavy chemtrails during the early growing season! Nothing seems to ripen…lots of blossoms and green tomatoes. Only thing doing well is okra!
Yes up here in Ontario Canada we have the same pathetic garden we are in a drought. Can not seem to get anything to poke there head out of the soil Janet Brown Canada
Oh, my gosh!! I’m clear over here in northern California and have had a disappointing garden: cukes, toms, zuccs, etc. Amazing! Could it be my store bought manure? Very strange, indeed, when I usually have over-abundance!! Anyway, I’m glad in your recipe that you said “mint leaves”. A friend made a mint drink and used the stems and turned out tasting also like a plant, not just mint. Enjoy your blog!!
Good to know about the stems– and I imagine it could be the store-bought manure that is the culprit. I’m currently working on getting to the bottom of this on my end– stay tuned…
Hi thanks for this blog. Inspiring and uplifting. Im so glad im not the only one with a poor garden this year. We moved recently and my new garden is struggling a lot!
Used some sawdust as mulching and maybe that was a bad idea.
Love your blog.
All the way from South Africa
I froze my peaches, sliced with skin on. Am I out of luck for canning? Am I just going to juice my way out of this jam?
I wanted to try the honey cinimmon peaches.l Could I try that still?
Yeah, I’m thinking you might end up with a too-mushy result if you were to can the frozen ones.
Wondering if you tried freeze drying the Simple Syrup.
No… I haven’t. Hmmmm….
My neighbor told me awhile ago that people are spraying an herbicide on their hay fields that the cows are eating. That herbicide goes through the cow and compost process and sterilizes the garden.
I used some last year’s hay on my garden as well as on my new plantings around my house. I have had the worst time getting anything to grow. I did this three years ago and am still having problems. This year though, my plants budded out with small, deformed leaves and seemed to get over it and put on good leaves so I am hoping that the herbicide is going away finally. I have started to put out weed mat and regular mulch in my flower beds and gardened in 5 gallon buckets with bought soil this year. Much better response. I am also afraid that the bee population going away is contributing to the lessened production.
Yikes… I hope the herbicide is finally leaving too! Sorry you’ve had to deal with that…
I forgot to mention that I am in Western Kentucky.
Glad I read the comments even though I don’t have a garden this year. A tenant left hay which I had planned to use as a dug in mulch where my garden will be next year. Now I’ll rethink how to improve my sand.