When life gives you mint…

There is a local producer of things like herbs; blodeuwedd botanics. During lockdown, they sold their wares on the weekly unofficial market on the parking lot next to my house. I liked buying things from them! And sometimes they warned me their wares would take over my garden. I ignored that.

They sometimes sell mint; I bought some. They did tell me it spreads quickly. And I can confirm that it indeed does! Their oregano does it too, and their sage grows quite vigourously as well, and these are all standing in the same raised bed in the upper garden. They are rivalling each other with grim determination! I had already decided I should probably rein it in a bit. But I hadn't really.

Mint!

Then one day I realised I was out of squash. And I have an aromatic plant in the garden, taking over! These two things should be combined. I had already been using it for mint tea, but that never uses up enough of the mint before I get tired of it. So I googled a recipe, got a fair amount mint, and tried to make my own cordial. I blitzed the mint and then briefly boiled it with sugar. And then I poured the liquid through a tea sieve. 

What was the verdict? It looked awful! It was cloudy and army green. But it tasted okay! In in a day or two I finished it all. It is good weather for cold drinks.

The cordial

When diluted to a drink

I googled a recipe where you don't need to blitz the plants. Let's see if a second batch, with a different method, would be better. I got a lot more mint, just read it it by hand this time, and did it all again. And the result? Less faff, les murky result, and similar taste. And, for better or worse, not a very large amount, so I'll drink this quite quickly. And then I can harvest again! I am quite chuffed. I found a good weapon against the mint; I just consume it! And then I also have homegrown plastic-free organic cordial. What's not to like!

Second batch ready to be boiled

Result: less cloudy!