Harvesting Spearmint

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 3 minutes to boil 2 cups water

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• organic spearmint leaves
• optional for tea: ginger
• lemon, honey or other sweetener

Steps:

1. Cut some stalks from your spearmint plant 1" from the ground.
2. Rinse in colander, removing any dried up leaves or debris.

 
3. Dry on a towel. Reserve a handful of leaves.

 
4. To dehydrate some spearmint for later use in recipes or tea, either put together 3 or 4 stalks and tie with a string. Hang in a cool dark place to dry. Once dry place in sandwich bag with all the air sucked out.

 
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5. You can use a dehydrator. Put entire leaf and stalk into a dehydrator (95 degree, lowest setting to preserve the essential oils). It dries within 24 hours at my altitude.

 
6. Boil 2 cups of water then turn off the stove. Add the fresh leaves and a piece of ginger and a slice of lemon if you like!

 
7. Place a top on the pot to capture all the delicious flavors and leave it steep 10 minutes or longer if you can stand waiting. Strain it into your cups.

 

 
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8. Drink it hot or let it cool and add ice.

 
9. I also put a few stalks with leaves into a vase of water. They will sprout roots and you can multiply your spearmint plants. Just realize that spearmint also loves to grow and may take over the area where you plant it so either put them in big pots or in a separate flower bed to let them grow.
10. Enjoy the beautiful scent and taste of spearmint!

Judy
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts

June 25, 20171 found this helpful

Thank you for posting. A neighbor put out free mint plants. I knew from experience how they take over, so I did plant in a separate pot. I am enjoying a few leaves in my tea as I write this.