Mint, due to its high content of essential oils, has a very strong refreshing taste. The syrup prepared on its basis is an excellent addition to a variety of dessert dishes, baked goods and drinks. Today we will look at the main methods of preparing this delicacy.
There is quite a wide variety of mint varieties: garden, curly, field and, of course, peppermint. You can use any variety to make syrup, but preference should still be given to the peppery variety. This variety has the most pronounced aroma and a burning, refreshing taste.
Before starting cooking, the collected mint is washed in cold water and dried on cotton or paper towels. If necessary, if the workpiece will be made only from leaf mass, leaves are torn off from dried branches.
Three Basic Methods for Making Fresh Mint Syrup
Method No. 1 - recipe from Marmalade Fox
- mint leaves - 100 grams;
- granulated sugar – 500 grams;
- clean water - 1 glass.
The syrup made this way turns out to be a rich green color.
Clean and thoroughly dried mint leaves are crushed into small pieces and placed in a bowl of a suitable size. The green mass is sprinkled with 250 grams of granulated sugar, mixed, covered with a lid and left on the table for 12 - 20 hours. Sugar, having hydrophilic properties, absorbs all the essential substances and juice from mint slices.
When the mixture is thoroughly infused, they begin to prepare the syrup. To do this, the remaining sugar is mixed with water and boiled until thickened for 20 minutes. After this, add candied mint to a bowl of boiling liquid and turn off the heat. Using a wooden spatula, carefully mix the mass until the crystals are completely dissolved. After this, close the saucepan with a lid. The mass should cool naturally. This will take approximately 3 – 4 hours.
Blend the cooled mint puree with a blender until smooth. Place the sieve on a clean bowl, cover it with 3-4 layers of gauze and begin the procedure of straining the aromatic mass.
If the use of mint syrup is intended for the next couple of months, then the sweet liquid is immediately placed in jars. If the finished syrup is planned for long-term storage, then it needs to be put on fire again, boiled for a couple of minutes and poured into sterile bottles.
Marmalade Fox will tell you all the details of this recipe in her video.
Method number 2 - with citric acid
- mint sprigs - 150 grams;
- granulated sugar – 500 grams;
- clean water - 250 milliliters;
- citric acid ½ teaspoon.
Mint syrup prepared according to this recipe turns out to be light green in color, more like honey, but all the taste and beneficial properties are retained in full.
In this recipe, the leaves are not cut off, but whole branches are used. They are cut at a distance of 15 - 25 centimeters from the top, washed, and dried on a cloth.
The prepared raw material is cut into several parts, placed in a small saucepan, and filled with cool water. Boil the contents of the bowl for 10 minutes under a tightly closed lid. Then the fire is turned off, and the mint infusion is allowed to stand for 10 to 24 hours. The mint should then be removed. To do this, squeeze it thoroughly with your hands. To make the broth transparent, filter it through a very fine plastic sieve lined with gauze.
Add sugar to the clear broth and cook for 15 minutes. A minute before turning off the heat, add acid to the syrup. While hot, the syrup is poured into small jars and screwed on with lids.
Irina Khlebnikova on her channel clearly demonstrated the production of mint syrup
Method No. 3 - Dried mint syrup
- dried mint raw materials - 50 grams;
- sugar – 500 grams;
- water – 250 milliliters.
Dried mint can be purchased at any pharmacy or you can use your own preparations. The raw materials are first kneaded by hand and then poured with boiling water. Cover the bowl tightly with a lid and wrap it in terry towels. In this form, the infusion should cool completely. Strain the mixture through a triple layer of gauze. The aromatic preparation is supplemented with sugar and placed on fire. Boiling time 10 - 15 minutes.
The thickened mass is bottled and sent to the cold.
Shelf life of syrup
Dessert sealed in sterile jars can be stored for up to a year. Syrup that was packaged without following strict preservation rules can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
Many people enjoy the refreshing taste of mint in tea or other drinks. But not everyone has mint growing on hand, and it takes a lot of time to prepare an infusion from it. It is much more convenient to have a jar of concentrated mint syrup in the refrigerator. You can buy it at your nearest supermarket, but it’s better to cook it yourself.
Benefits and calorie content of mint syrup
For the production of mint syrups, the most often used is an essential oil containing a predominance of menthol. Unlike industrial samples, syrup prepared independently has a more natural aroma and natural composition.
The beneficial properties of syrup for the body are difficult to overestimate:
- improved digestion;
- increased appetite;
- relief from nausea and easing abdominal cramps;
- calming effect on the nervous system;
- rapid recovery from colds and flu.
The calorie content of mint syrup is 282 kcal. It does not contain proteins or fats, but only carbohydrates (70 g per 100 g of product).
The therapeutic value of mint is quite high, which allows this plant to be used in the fight against various ailments not only in fresh form, but also in dried form and in the form of syrup.
Use in cooking
The main use of mint syrup is the preparation of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, hot and cold. It is added as a natural flavoring to tea, coffee, various cocktails and drinks. The refreshing taste of menthol quenches thirst well and invigorates.
Mint syrup can be used to soak sponge cakes when making cakes, add to cream, pour it over pancakes and pancakes, and serve with creamy ice cream or cottage cheese. The taste of the dessert will only benefit from this combination.
Mint syrup: classic recipe
To prepare mint syrup according to the traditional recipe you will need: 1 glass of mint leaves, 200 g of sugar and 220 ml of water, lemon juice or citric acid (on the tip of a knife).
Separate the leaves from the stems, wash them in plenty of water, chop them quite coarsely and compact them tightly into a glass. Prepare syrup from water and sugar. Cook it for 10 minutes until it starts to thicken. After this, place mint leaves in a saucepan with syrup. Let it simmer over low heat, then turn off the stove. Now the syrup should sit for 1 hour.
At this time, prepare a jar (the specified number of ingredients yields 200 ml of finished syrup). Put the pan back on the fire. Let its contents boil, add citric acid, strain and pour the hot syrup into a jar.
The syrup preparation time is 15 minutes, it is infused for 1 hour, and stored all winter in a dark, cool place or on a refrigerator shelf for no more than 6 months.
Mint syrup has a consistency similar to fresh liquid honey; as for the shade, unlike the product sold in the store, it is not green, but amber in color. But if you wish, you can add a natural coloring to it - a little spinach juice. Then the mint syrup will acquire an interesting greenish tint. At the same time, its refreshing menthol taste will be fully preserved.
Canning mint syrup for the winter
To extend the shelf life of peppermint syrup, you can can it. To do this, you need to prepare the following ingredients: 200 g of mint leaves, 1.5 liters of water and 1.5 kg of sugar. From this number of ingredients you will get 2-3 jars of syrup, 0.5 liters in volume.
Mint syrup for the winter is prepared in the following sequence:
- Rinse mint leaves under running water and place in a saucepan.
- Pour water over the mint, put the pan on the fire and boil.
- As soon as the water boils, turn off the stove and set the pan aside for 24 hours.
- After the specified time, strain the mint infusion, then pour sugar into the pan and put it back on the fire.
- Cook the mint syrup over low heat for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The longer the cooking time, the thicker it will be.
- Pour the hot syrup into sterile jars, preserve with lids and wrap them until they cool completely.
- Store in a cool, dark place for approximately 1 year.
Homemade mint syrup is thick and aromatic. And it can easily replace natural honey.
Mint and ginger syrup
To prepare the spicy mint syrup, you will need to take one glass each of sugar, water and chopped mint. You will only need the leaves of the plant, so they must first be separated from the stems. The glass of mint must be well compacted, otherwise the taste of the syrup will not be as rich.
Pour water into a saucepan and add sugar to it. Boil a little. Then pour the still hot sugar syrup over the chopped mint leaves. Cover the pan with a lid and leave it like that for a day. After the specified time, the syrup must be boiled again. Place the pan over low heat, let it boil and cook for 8 minutes, stirring constantly. At the very end of cooking, add dried ginger (at the tip of a knife). While still hot, pour the mint syrup into a clean jar and cover with a lid. Store in the refrigerator for no more than 6 months.
As a spicy aromatic additive, you can use not only ginger, but also cinnamon, cloves, etc.
How to make mint syrup from dried mint
If suddenly someone wants natural mint syrup in winter, when fresh leaves are no longer available anywhere, you can prepare a healthy delicacy from dried mint. You can buy it at any pharmacy.
The mint syrup, the recipe for which is offered below, is as rich and aromatic as that brewed in the summer from a freshly picked plant. To prepare it you will need 50 g of dried mint, 1 liter of water, 400 g of sugar.
The water must first be boiled in order to pour it over the dried mint. Cover the dish with a lid and let it brew for 1.5 hours. Then strain the infusion using cheesecloth folded in four layers, add sugar and simmer over low heat until you get a thick mint syrup.
At home, such a delicacy can be prepared at any time, because getting dried mint is not difficult. A delicious drink with the addition of mint syrup will cool you down in the summer heat and warm you up in the winter cold.
Life often gives us gifts in the form of small discoveries. And probably one of the best discoveries of the whole past summer was this mint syrup recipe. It appeared in my head quite suddenly, when I didn’t know where to put the mint harvest.
I have more than enough of it in my garden to dry it for several years to come, which is what I did all season. But then, quite suddenly, it crept up, and it is necessary to remove all the remaining vegetation from the garden, among which there are fresh, green mint bushes.
I don’t like it when good things go to waste, especially things I grew with my own hands. Therefore, I asked nature to give me a recipe so that everyone would like it, it would be tasty and healthy..
The video shows a recipe for making fresh mint syrup. Everything is done from dried plants in exactly the same way.
Ingredients:
- Fresh mint 200 g or dry mint 50 g,
- granulated sugar - 1 kg,
- water – 500 ml – 1 l,
The thickness of the syrup and its richness will depend on the amount of water. If you are going to store the product for longer than 3 months, I recommend using one and a half times more sugar.
I grow 2 types of mint - peppermint and another unknown to me. Plants were cut at the root. Green mass has been collected - stems with leaves - 200 g. I left all this in the basin for a couple of hours so that the garden soil remained where it was supposed to be, and not in my syrup. Then I washed the greens well and dried them in the open air on a towel.
Preparation:
It is better to prepare a small amount of fresh mint syrup to drink within a month. It is much easier to store dried herbs than syrup, and you can always cook more from dry plants using our recipe.
Step 1. Prepare mint infusion. Cut all the green mass into a saucepan with a knife or scissors.
You need to chop the mint to release the essential oils. You will immediately feel how successful this procedure is by the mint aroma. Then use your hands to break and rub the plants a little more.
Pour drinking water over the mint, bring to a boil and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for 12 hours.
Step 1. Cook the syrup. The infusion should be filtered. First through a colander. Squeeze the herb well, but do not throw it away. After brewing mint a second time, you can make baths for your hands and nails, wash your face, rinse your hair, or simply add a secondary decoction to the bath. My daughter just asked me to lie in a mint bath, so let the girl enjoy it.
The second time we filter through a fine sieve so that there is no sediment. If desired, you can add lemon juice at this stage. We literally get a potion into which we pour 1 kg of sugar, stir it and put it on the stove.
I found half a lemon on the farm, I won’t let it go to waste! I throw it into a saucepan with the potion.
Bring the syrup to a boil and cook for 5-10 minutes. If foam appears, remove it. Some people recommend boiling the syrup until it thickens, but I don’t follow this rule because I can’t imagine how much benefit will remain in the final product. I always try to preserve as much as possible all the vitamins and other useful elements in the preparations.
All that remains is to cool the mint syrup slightly and pour into jars. If you are not going to store the syrup for more than a month, then plastic bottles will do. But in glass it is preferable. If you sterilize the dishes and seal the jars, the product will be stored for up to a year.
Peppermint syrup can be added to tea, cocktails and other drinks, and is a pleasant addition to many desserts, ice cream and baked goods. It is good for soaking muffins and biscuits and adding to dough for flavor. My children really like pancakes and cheesecakes with syrup.
If your soul asks for syrup, but you don’t have mint on hand, then you can always buy dry herb at any pharmacy.
I am sure that the syrup for this recipe can be prepared not only from mint, but also from other aromatic herbal crops, for example, lavender, thyme. Next summer I will definitely try to make it from tea and medicinal wild herbs. And next up I have a small bucket of 10 liters of dried Crimean lemongrass, which is also really asking for syrup. I'll post the recipe soon.
What interesting recipes do you have with mint? Share with us in the comments.
Olga Filippova, only for
If you like drinks and desserts with a refreshing taste, be sure to prepare mint syrup for the winter. A couple of small jars will come in handy with hot pancakes or cottage cheese casserole. You can also pour homemade mint syrup over ice cream or soak sponge cakes and pastries.
Mint syrup has a uniform consistency, so it mixes well with the cream and does not separate into a fluffy butter mass when whipped with a mixer. And of course, a few teaspoons can be added to mojitos and other cocktails, using the preparation as a complete sugar syrup, ready for use.
The technology for preparing and storing mint syrup at home is not much different from any other home canned food. The product contains fresh lemon and a large amount of sugar, so there is no need to add citric acid or other preservatives. The only requirement is clean, well-sterilized jars and lids. For preservation, it is optimal to use small glass jars - no more than 200 ml. It is more convenient for the lids to be screwed, although ordinary tin lids with a seaming key can also be used.
Preparation time: 12 hours / Cooking time: 15 minutes / Yield: 300 ml
Ingredients
- peppermint 150 g
- lemon 0.5 pcs.
- water 300 ml
- sugar 300 g
Preparation
We sort and rinse the mint, changing the water 4-5 times to remove sand and other contaminants. We tear off the leaves, but do not throw away the stems. We remove only the blackened leaves. If there are some that are slightly crushed, you can leave them.
Chop the leaves and stems (cut 0.5-1 cm or smaller) and pour into a saucepan or pan with a thick bottom. There should be quite a lot of mint; when chopped, it should fit into a glass, tightly compacted to the top. You can use more, but you shouldn’t take less than a glass, otherwise the syrup will turn out without the characteristic greenish tint and menthol taste.
Wash the lemon thoroughly in warm water, using a brush to remove the film of wax and other contaminants from its surface. Cut half a lemon (approximately 50-60 g) into thin slices and place in a pan with mint. Chop along with the zest, removing only the seeds.
Fill with cold water and place the pan on the stove. Boil for 5 minutes from the moment of boiling. Then remove the pan from the heat, cover with a lid and leave for 12 hours in a cool place (after cooling, it is advisable to place it in the refrigerator).
During this time, the broth will become richer and stronger, with a bitter-sour taste. Strain it through cheesecloth folded in 4-5 layers.
Pour the liquid into a saucepan, add sugar and cook for 5 minutes from the moment of boiling. When cooked, the syrup will thicken slightly, acquire a lighter color, and become transparent.
Fill sterilized jars with hot syrup and seal them with lids.
Turn it upside down and leave it like this until it cools completely.
Mint syrup, like other preparations for the winter, is stored for 1 year in a dark and cool place. An open jar of syrup should be used within 2 weeks and be sure to be kept in the refrigerator, tightly sealed with a lid.
The main summer drinks - and - can be easily varied with the help of various syrups. One of the most popular and refreshing is mint leaf syrup, which is easy to prepare and can be stored for a long time. We will talk about the intricacies of making mint syrup at home in several different ways below.
Mint syrup - recipe
Remembering the recipe for this mint syrup is extremely easy, especially if you have a standard 240 ml measuring cup on hand. Just measure out all the ingredients in equal proportions and start cooking.
Before you make mint syrup at home, prepare the mint itself. Rinse the leaves thoroughly directly on the branches, then dry them and chop them randomly, rather roughly.
Now start making the sugar syrup. Combine water and sugar in equal proportions and place the mixture in a saucepan over the fire. When the sugar crystals disperse and the syrup becomes clear and comes to a boil, immediately pour it over the chopped mint. Next, cover the dishes with film, preventing the aromatic essential oils from escaping with the steam. Leave the syrup to cool at room temperature.
If you decide to adapt the recipe and prepare mint syrup for the winter, then quickly bring it to a boil under the lid and pour into a sterile container. Seal everything tightly with sterile lids.
How to make mint lemon syrup?
In this recipe, the mint flavor will be accompanied by citrus notes. For this syrup, you can use almost any citrus fruit, but we preferred the classic – lemon zest.
Since the composition also contains citrus fruits along with mint aromas, we will halve the number of leaves in the recipe.
