How to Make Homemade Mint Extract from your Garden
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Making your own mint extract from your garden is a lot easier than you think and the results are far better than anything you can get from the store. Making homemade extracts and flavorings is one of my favorite things. The taste amazing and are so easy!
Making mint extract is a great thing to do with the excess herbs that you grow. And we all know mint can go crazy! We love to grow mint.
I have a ton of mint coming out my ears in the garden. It grows everywhere and never stop. But what do you do with all that excess mint?
I love mint-flavored desserts and drinks, so I decided to make mint extract to preserve some of my mint flavor for later.
Flavor extracts
Flavor extracts are fun and interesting to make. It only takes some alcohol and the right ingredients to make a super interesting and delicious extract. I make vanilla extract all the time, but vanilla beans are getting very expensive.
I did some research to see what other extracts I could come up with and found some super interesting ideas. Then I figured out how to make lemon extract. And also chocolate extract too. And now mint.
Spearmint extract
The thing I love about making my own extracts is that I can choose the kind of mint I use to change the flavors. I am not a big fan of peppermint, but I LOVE spearmint, so I can use that. I also have ginger mint and chocolate mint in the garden. Think of all the possibilities.
If you want to read the full story of how we got started growing our own food at Little Sprouts and get all the basics to start yourself, check this out. The Journey of the Little Sprouts: A Guide for Growing a Better Tomorrow.
How to make mint extract
Mint extract could not be simpler to make with the copious amounts of mint taking over the garden.
Grab a few handfuls of the mint you like. Wash it and dry it well. Place it in a quart sized mason jar. You want the jar to be fairly full, but not packed. Fill the jar up with a medium range vodka (I don’t buy liquor for drinking so I had to ask the clerk and they directed me to the mid range) Then the rest is time.
Let the mint mixture steep for 4-12 weeks and then strain out the mint. Put it in small jars that are easy to pour out of for use.
You can use this extract in teas, cocoa, baking, or cocktails. It’s pretty versatile. It adds just a hint of cool mint flavor to whatever you use it for. I hope you’ll try making your own extracts too. And you can even make Homemade Vanilla without Alcohol.
