My favorite herb growing in my garden, hands down, is spearmint. Well, and basil. And lemon mint, lemon basil, lemon balm… Ok, nevermind. I love every herb that is growing in my garden!
Most of them are growing in pots because I hope to bring them inside come winter time. I’m thinking it will give me a jump start next summer, since I won’t need to start them from seed. And, then I’ll have time to grow more herbs!! And maybe, make an entire herb garden….
Anyway, back to the mint. If you’ve ever grown any variety of mint, you know it grows like crazy in the summertime! Because of this, it needs to be contained in a pot or separate bed. Mint tends to not play well with others. It’s invasive and tends to share its taste/scent with those around it.
In our house, we typically grow mint for one thing: Tea! We use it fresh throughout the summer, and dry it for winter. Our summertime recipe comes from the Amish community near my hometown. When we were visiting this past Thanksgiving, we had the opportunity to drink warm Meadow Tea in the home of an Amish family! Such a treat!!
Meadow Tea
Begin by collecting fresh mint. Rinse and place into tea container. If you don’t have a glass container, make the tea in a pot on the stove.
I always seem to have an abundance, so this jar has 4 cups worth. (And, yes, I love to use half-gallon Mason jars for tea!)
For the best tea flavor, use a 2:1 ratio of water to mint leaves. (I have 4 cups of leaves, so I need 8 cups of water.)
Measure and bring water to boil. Then, pour over mint leaves.
Steep for 10-15 minutes, or until the water is a pale green-yellow.
Sweeten, if desired, and refrigerate until cold.
In my opinion, this tea is best served cold! But, of course, you could make a large batch to keep in the fridge and warm it up one cup at a time.
Enjoy!
