I love growing herbs and one of my favorites is mint,
There are loads and loads of different variety's and I love them all, my interest in mint started when I had a delicious mint tea in Egypt
I was doing a charity bike ride along the Nile 250miles in 5 days, that was 14 years ago, anyway after my return I was seeking out this mint tea and several years later I stumbled across a recipe on a blog, and have made it ever since and it always takes me back to that time in Egypt.
I pick 50g of a selection of mint, this batch is made up of chewing gum mint and garden mint
The secret of Egyptian mint tea is Black Gunpowder loose tea
strange looking isnt it, 1tbs needed
the tea and 50g of sugar is added to 1lt of boiling water and simmered for 5 mins
then you add the mint leaves keeping them submerged simmer for a further 1 min, then cover and let it stew for 5 mins
strain and enjoy, I keep the rest in a thermos jug so I can enjoy it throughout the day, sometimes I enjoy it cold.
In the back garden I have a few mints growing in the herb bed, I do thin them out to stop them taking over,
Here is a video showing who else enjoys the mint.
As well as those is the back garden I have another collection of mint that is waiting to be planted out, some I have bought, some I have grown from cuttings that were given to me by friends.
This video is my mint collection.
To date I have 23 variety's of mint and the collection continues to grow.
I like mint tea but without sugar. I had it in Egypt but it was too sweet for me.
ReplyDeleteyes it is a sweet tea which suits me I have made it without sugar when I had a friend visiting, she enjoyed it I had to add sugar to mine.
DeleteI grow mint to have with roast lamb and for the novelty lol we have common mint and chocolate mint...and while it's not a mint, Vietnamese mint. They are in a box and a pot to stop them taking over. There is also some amongst the ivy I think....between the kids and the frost and the ivy it is kept in check!
ReplyDeleteI love mint sauce with lamb and goat meat
DeleteHow do you stop the mint cross pollinating and reverting to plain old spearmint which is what always happened to mine whenever I tried to grow other sorts.
ReplyDeletecross pollinating would happen with the seeds, I dont grow from seed only from parent root stock. After flowering they are cut back and left to grow from roots again.
DeleteFascinating Dawn. I have had mint tea once or twice in places in North Africa, but have never tried making it. I certainly didn't know about gunpowder tea.
ReplyDeleteGunpowder tee has a distinct taste of its own
DeleteSuch an interesting post Dawn, and get you 250 mile bike ride lady!
ReplyDeleteI used to do a fair amount of cycling
DeleteLove love love mint tea, it is my favourite, I have brewed a mint tea from freshly picked leaves before, but it lacked something. I will try and find the gunpowder tea and brew some up. Thanks for the info,
ReplyDeleteFi
Dont get the tea bags its not nice loose tea is a lot better
DeleteI have tried and tried and for the life of my cannot grow mint! Not sure why!
ReplyDeleteOh dear it grows like wildfire here
DeleteMust try mint tea. We make lemon balm tea. I think mint is best growing in a sunken bucket or else it will root every where.
ReplyDeletenot struck on lemon balm tea
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