Tricks and Treats: Mint Yourself

Mint or Mentha

I'm back with more Tricks and Treats! This time we'll talk about flavorful mint! The mint family is plentiful, frequently consisting of aromatic plants and culinary herbs. We have some of them in our container garden, such as basil, mint, rosemary and oregano.Today I'll address just the mint or mentha genus.

Tricks

Mint are mostly short-lived perennials that spread by underground stems. If you are looking for a particular species, start with small plants because with so many available varieties you might end up with the wrong one. Also sometimes seeds are slow, although this was not our case. Ours sprouted in a couple of days and grew savagely.

Mint is fairly easy to grow, it is said you can "plant and step back". It's best not to mix mint in a container with other plants as the roots tend to take over and can crowd neighbor plants. Actually our mint grew so much that it strangled itself. If this is your case, just prune back heavily and it will sprout again.

Treats

We tend to think of mint in terms of beverages but it actually has many culinary uses. Mint leaves are used in teas, beverages, jellies, syrups, candies, and ice creams. Numerous ethnic dishes are seasoned with mints of different kinds.

Besides its flavor, mint is highly regarded for its smell. Position your mint container where you can brush against it as you walk by or near your favorite seating spot and brush against your face after a busy day to calm your nerves. Mint is employed for medicinal use. Rub on itchy skin or on you gums to alleviate toothache. Mint also aids digestion; traditional after-dinner mints grows from this! Peppermint is a good antispasmodic, so you can use it on tea for menstrual cramps, diarrhea and tummy-ache.

Mint is almost instantly related to mojito! But to give it nice twist I want to share an original recipe: Raspberry Mojito. Super easy to do and delicious.

Raspberry Mojito
Ingredients:

• Raspberry Rum
• Club Soda
• Sugar
• Water
• Raspberries
• Mint!

Preparation:
Add water to sugar little by little until you create a syrup. Mix Raspberry Rum, Club Soda and sugar syrup in equal quantities. Gently mash mint leaves with a muddler. The mint leaves should only be bruised to release the essential oils and should not be shredded. Add some raspberries to the mix and leave the others to use as garnish along with some mint leaves. Cheers!