You Grow Girl™

Seedling Joined: 03 Apr 2005 Posts: 11 Location: Kansas

When I was still living at home, I planted some chocolate mint in front of my mom's house, and now it's becoming a huge crop of mint. She's been harvesting it pretty regularly, but besides making tea and tea candies, we haven't found any great ideas for it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Oh by the way, I love making the mint candy. All you do is wash and dry fresh mint leaves, dip them in beaten egg whites and then in extra fine sugar. Arrange the leaves on a cookie sheet (I cover mine in non-stick foil) and put them in the oven at about 125 degrees F for eight or ten hours. Some people don't like them, but others ask for some every time they see me. Luckily, I usually have some at hand!

Posted: 20-06-05 17:54

Minted couscous is very yummy: prepare the couscous the usual way (adding some olive oil to the water), and mix with chopped mint leaves a few minutes before serving.

Posted: 20-06-05 20:05

Not sure about this with chocolate mint, but one recipe I use with reg. mint is: either dig baby potatoes (yellow fleshed is best) or buy a packet of baby potatoes. Cook until just done, drain and smother in butter. Toss with freshly picked and chopped mint and serve. Courtesy a British organic gardening and cooking show that I caught the tail end of and have never seen again.

I love the mint candy idea, I'll definately have to try it!

Posted: 21-06-05 2:22

like the mint candy idea, too! I'll be trying that. And my dad like mint juleps! Wink

Posted: 21-06-05 5:44

Here's an easy Italian zucchini recipe: shred zucchini (like you were going to make potato pancakes or something), sprinkle with kosher salt and let sit for a few minutes, then rinse and squeeze out the extra water. Saute with a little olive oil, then add chopped mint (and other herbs if you like, but it's the mint that makes it).

Plantlet Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 27

Lainie wrote:

Oh by the way, I love making the mint candy. All you do is wash and dry fresh mint leaves, dip them in beaten egg whites and then in extra fine sugar. Arrange the leaves on a cookie sheet (I cover mine in non-stick foil) and put them in the oven at about 125 degrees F for eight or ten hours. Some people don't like them, but others ask for some every time they see me. Luckily, I usually have some at hand!

Thanks for that recipe! I'm going to have to try it. I've been trying to get some chocolate mint, but to no avail Sad

Mint goes really well in fruit salads, with drinks (think hot chocolate, iced tea, cocktails), and I may try a mint jelly this year. I have 4 different types of mint growing in my herb garden Smile

Posted: 21-06-05 7:56

Mmm... Mint pesto.

Take a regular basil pesto recipe and replace the pine nuts with walnut and the basil with mint. It's surprisingly tasty.

Posted: 21-06-05 13:50

We ate mint and parsley pesto with new peas and pasta the other night for dinner. It was awesome! Not ideal for chocolate mint, but how about pund cake with choclolate mint? I've made it before with cinnamon basil and it really good - imagine the addition of chocolate and mint together, yum...

Posted: 21-06-05 13:57

Cuban Mojito

Ingredients:

1 stalk of mint
1 tablespoon superfine sugar (castor)
Juice of 1 lime
4 ice cubes
1/2 cup Appletons Jamaican white rum

Slightly crush the mint stalk between the fingers and put it in a tall glass. In a small bowl, combine the lime juice and sugar, stirring until the sugar is disolved. Place the ice cubes in the glass with the mint, add the lime mixture, then the rum. Top off with club soda.

Enjoy!

Posted: 21-06-05 14:12

How about tabbouleh? It's been a while since I've made it, but I remember it has bulgur, parsley and mint. A Google search will bring up many, many recipes. In fact, I think I'll make it for a BBQ I'm going to this weekend!

On second thought, that may not work so well with chocolate mint...

I also have a large patch of mint (spearmint and some other type) so I'm really enjoying this thread. Keep the great recipes coming!

Posted: 21-06-05 15:00

Dang, Meighan, you beat me to it! Mojitos are wonderful.

I also love adding a bit of mint to fruit salad. It adds a lovely fresh flavour.

Posted: 21-06-05 15:25

I already posted my recipe for slushy mojitos in another thread, but it's worth repeating Wink

:

http://www.yougrowgirl.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=22737#22737

Posted: 21-06-05 22:53

When I was little my mom used to make something my sister and I called 'doggie doo doos' (appetizing hunh?) Its just ground beef and pork mixed with an egg and add some fresh chopped mint. you roll them into long shapes that look exactly like....well, poo. You then skewer them lengthwise and can either bake or barbeque. when finished you take a homemade flour tortilla, slap on some sour cream (and any other toppings you'd like, ie. chopped lettuce or tomato), add a doggie doo doo, roll up and eat. yummy. Its kindof like a burger but the mint gives a really neat twist. Smile

Posted: 21-06-05 22:56

Those sound AMAZING! I am SO going to make them at my next BBQ! Seriously. Freak out the buds....

Posted: 21-06-05 23:03

hee hee

They relly do look like poo, especially when they're cooked.

Posted: 21-06-05 23:24

lol ew!! my bf will like that recipe.. he can't look at my tamarinds without going "EEEWW!" because he thinks they look like dog doo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/megz/19431031/in/set-471002/

see what I mean!?

Posted: 22-06-05 18:17

My mom has a great mint meat ball stew! I'll see if I can get the recipe, I don't think it's too hard. The meatballs are beef with chopped mint and onion, the stew part has tomato and potato in it. mmm, I'm getting homesick just thinking of it. But now that I think about it this may not be that helpful because it's regular mint, and I don't know about chocolate mint and mint. Maybe.

Seedling Joined: 03 Apr 2005 Posts: 11 Location: Kansas

Holy cow! I was not expecting this many replies so soon! You guys are awesome... I think I'll end up using all of them by the end of summer.
Thank you soooo much.

Posted: 23-06-05 7:29

Ooh, if you're a coffee drinker: another thing I like to do specifically with chocolate mint is add it to coffee. I prefer to use it dried, and add a hefty pinch to the beans when I'm grinding. (I've tried it fresh and it tastes too "green" for me, but you might have a different opinion.) It's really yummy. Like a flavored coffee but without that weird artificial taste.

Posted: 23-06-05 12:21

You can also use the leaves in hot water for mint tea! Or use it in iced tea. MMmm... Also mint sauce and mint jelly are both excellent on lamb.