FreshMint - Keep It That Way!

I absolutely love the smell of fresh mint and the way the velvety leaves feel between my fingers, almost like a nice scarf you could twirl and play with absentmindedly. However, I find it hard to keep my mint fresh and soft and velvety. I don’t have that many recipes that call for fresh mint, but just when I want to add a little mint to my fruit salad or top off a cloud of whipped cream, I find my once beautiful, fragrant mint has browned and shriveled in the bag or water bath in which I’d left it. Humph.

Recently I learned a couple of tips to keep the leaves fresh and flavorful for more than a day or so. It’s not very time consuming but these techniques go a long way for preservation.

Fresh Mint in the Fridge

1) Rinse your mint as soon as you get it home and lay it out on a towel to dry.
2) Separate the leaves.
3) With another towel or paper towel blot the mint to really get the excess water off the leaves.
4) Then pinch off the individual leaves and layer them in an airtight container. Store these in your refrigerator.

Fresh Mint in your Freezer

Follow the same steps above up to step 3. Once you’ve blotted away the excess moisture, lay the springs of mint on one side of a paper towel and fold the other side over. Put the folded paper towel in a Ziplock and squeeze out the excess air. Fold the bag over and place it flat in the freezer. You will have fresh mint whenever you need it.