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mint - preserving for winter use
Preserving mint in a way so that it still taste actually of..well.. mint... is not that easy - it does not dry well, even the shop bought freeze dried mint is pointless, it freezes badly... you can make apple and mint jelly - but you have to like jelly, and it's not very handy for cooking with... then my aunt gave me this method and its great!. It does make sweet mint - but as most of the places I use it also require sugar.. e.g. raitia, that's ok for me.
golden syrup
pick lots of mint on a dry day and shake off any lingering bugs. Chop very finely (I use one of those rocking knives), until you have a mound of mint. Then pack it into a small jar. Then add a layer of golden syrup, so that it is about 1/2 cm thick on the top.
What will happen is the syrup with weigh down the mint, and any trapped air will rise slowly out. The next day it will look quite different - like alot less of it and like wet mint. Add a little more syrup if necessary and then store in the dark to keep its colour. As air cannot get to the mint, the flavour remains and it keeps.
©colour it green 2007