I have a whole bunch of mint in a large pot near my garden. Mint is invasive, so it needs to be contained, or you will very quickly become a mint farmer. I picked a whole bunch (maybe 1/3 cup), washed it, "bruised" it a bit, then shoved it in to the vodka bottle using a chop stick.
Let this sit and marinate for 4-6 weeks.
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| This is how the world would look if you drank too much peppermint extract |
Duh! That IS a genius idea!
ReplyDeleteDang, I wish I had 4-6 weeks until Christmas. I guess this will be NEXT Christmas gifts. ;D
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I've been looking for things to do with the mint in my backyard, this sounds perfect. And I picked up some cute little bottles at a thrift store a few months back that would be great for this.
ReplyDeleteJust a quick question though: you mentioned that the homemade vanilla extract could last for a couple of years by adding some more vodka as you use it. Do you think the same goes for the mint? Or should we take the mint leaves out after a couple months? (Just wondering if the mint leaves go bad after long enough.)
Thanks :)
I've left the mint leaves in my bottle since the vodka kind of "pickles it". It has been fine so far!
DeleteI would love to do this, but won't the vodka affect me? How strong is this compared to store-bought extract? I always put either cinnamon or a couple drops of mint extract into my hot chocolates, but I don't want to get boozed up in the mornings. Well, not every morning. Would I still only need a couple drops of the homemade extract to get the strong mint flavour?
ReplyDeleteCheck your current extract; chances are it is probably alcoholic anyway. I just use a splash, and it doesn't seem to impact me. And I can get drunk off of beer battered shrimp.
DeleteThanks! I know the store-bought ones have alcohol in them. I didn't word my question well, but I was trying to ask if the amount of minty vodka I would need to flavour anything would be enough to get me tipsy. I'm also a super lightweight. I only add a couple drops of store-bought extract, so if I only needed to add a couple drops of homemade then that would be great. I could always add more mint to make the concentration stronger, right?
ReplyDelete