And today's herb preservation method: mint wine

[TobiWallis]

I discovered a couple of years ago that mint makes a delightful white wine, fragrant, fairly sweet (trying it with less sugar this year) and ever so slightly fizzy if you bottle it a wee bit early. I've tried several different varieties, but they don't taste very much different when the wine is ready, so now I just mix them up!

 

[CanadianLori]

Recipe? Pretty please?

 

[TobiWallis]

It's all a bit 'rule of thumb' Lori!

I put two pints of water in a pan and add about four or five handfuls of washed mint. There's no need to remove leaves or flowers, just put the whole lot in. Bring slowly to the boil and then switch off the heat and leave it to cool. Then strain it through fine muslin (or a paper towel!) into a glass demijohn or whatever vessel you'll use to ferment it.

Dissolve 3lbs sugar in another two pints or so of water and, stirring, bring that to the boil. Let it cool and add it to the mint liquid in the demijohn. Add three teaspoons of lemon juice, then top it up with plain cold water. Leave it overnight, then add some dried yeast - it works with either wine or bread yeast - about a teaspoonful. Put a fermentation lock in the jar. My grandmother used to put a balloon over the top, but I think a lock's better!

Let it work until the sediment drops - that'll take a week or ten days depending on the temperature, then rack it off into a clean demijohn. Now leave it for another two or three weeks and rack it again. I add a crushed Campden tablet at that point and leave it overnight before bottling. Be aware that it might still be ever so slightly fizzy and try to push the corks out!

 

[CanadianLori]

Thank you. I remember those locks now. There's a shop not far from here and I will add this to my todo list.

many thanks!

 

[amelia88]

Never even thought to preserve it in that manner - thanks for sharing! Our mint plant is a little out of control with growth - and I never really thought of many 'out of the box' ways of using it. I do need to research that some more, but your post has definitely given me some food for thought.

 

[IcyBC]

I have a yard full of mint, but never thought of using them to make white wine! How delightful and definitely will consider this option when my oldest son comes home. He is in the wine business so this will be refreshing to pass it on to him.

 

[Cereus]

Oooh that sounds really delicious! I'll have to give it a go one of these days. I love anything to do with mint. I never thought to make wine out of it. I'll have to employ the help of a friend who knows more about stuff like this since I never made wine before despite knowing the basic gist behind its creation.

 

[Corzhens]

Gee, that looks like a pretty good formula to make wine from mint. We have lots of mint here in our planter box, it is very prolific. And we can harvest a handful of leaves for that purpose if needed. Maybe we can try this fermentation when we have time before Christmas. You know, it's fun to make homemade food and drinks. Some years back we were making that Nata De Coco, a kind of fungi from coconut water that has become a delicacy.

 

[claudine]

This sounds absolutely wonderful. I want to drink mint wine too Thank you for sharing this recipe, TobiWallis. I think I'll buy more mint plants and give it a try.

 

[Pat]

I have always wanted to make my own wine. I will have to give this a try soon.