• Stuff Grown and dried at my house (2010)
• “Hilary Foss” Organic Marjoram
• Cultus Bay (Whidbey Isle) organic rosemary
• Irish eyes – organic flat leaf parsley & oregano
• pan roasted & ground cumin seed – organic
• 2 types of ground chili powders – are MY secret
• Olive oil: Star ‘special reserve’ organic FCP, extra virgin, Italy
• Red onions, Texas ~ Canned Tomato sauce – organic
• Diced tomatoes – UKC local, organic
• Hand Crushed tomatoes – UKC local, organic
• Coleman’s Yellow dry mustard & Sriracha chili sauce
• French grey & Chardonnay oak smoked sea salts
• Cracked Tellicherry black peppercorns
• Turkish bay leaves – organic
• ‘vieux carre” rib rub – new Orleans, la
• “joe’s stuff” spice blend, new Orleans school of cooking
• “Trappey’s original Louisiana” hot sauce
• Organic house made all-veggie soup stock

Frank Schuchman, local resident

Chili knucklehead

Roslyn public library admirer

Thanks for visiting! This is a follow-up to the “Iron Man” column, printed on page 4, in the NKC Tribune, January 24^th, 2013. Copies available at the Cle Elum Tribune Offices: 807 W. Davis Street, suite A101, across from the new Taco Bell near Safeway. (509) 674-2511 or puchase online at www.nkctribune.com/virtual-newspaper-vending-box

Balance is the Key, then add Vitamin C

Your goal: Daily, combine iron-rich foods with Vitamin C, to boost your absorption of iron. (studies have proven that by adding Vitamin C to your meals will increase your daily iron absorption… 20x times. And without the fear of iron-overload if you simply avoid meat and stick with plant based iron rich foods)

Remember there are two types of iron: one is from meats, and the other is from fruits & vegetables.

     The meat kind builds itself in your blood and then stores it up in your muscles. Unfortunately, sometimes you can get too much iron build up and that can cause some serious health issues. (again, you’ll have to see your doctor for your specific iron needs, just know that an iron imbalance, too much or too little, can affect every organ in your body, including your brain).

     Veggies (and more, refer to the lists below  )are a different form of iron; this type of iron is absorbed as you consume it, the body takes what it needs for the day and the rest is expelled. So you goal is to eat a daily balanced diet combining veggies & Vitamin C so you will not overload on too much iron. *see the non-meat, iron rich foods below

Iron Skillets

Don’t laugh, trace amounts of iron really do transfer into your food when you cook in an iron skillet.

The nice thing about these meals is you can start out by just taking small baby steps, enjoying a “good meal” here and there, or you can start right now, eating these healthy and nutritious meals every single day (which I highly recommend!)

Just to remind you of the basics, look over the lists below and let’s make something good to eat!

The Good Stuff

• Dark leafy veggies: spinach, all greens like: kale, collards, mustard, turnip and beet
• Tomatoes (#1 sun dried, then fresh toms & juice) “acids” like tomatoes, are high in iron
• Potatoes! Baked, hash browns, etc, any style that are not deep fried or processed (instant)
• Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kohlrabi
• Green & Red sweet bell peppers, onions, green hot/mild chili peppers
• *Nuts & Seeds: sesame seeds, are #1 in iron. #1 in Vitamin E… are sunflower seeds!
• Dried Fruits: apricot (#1), raisins, craisins, prunes, figs, etc
• Cereals, many are fortified with iron and other nutrients, look at the labels
• Whole Grains, breads, rice, pastas, etc… but you have to know, these also inhibit iron absorption, and must be combined with Vitamin C
• Some Meats: beef & pork, including chicken & turkey (dark meats) (-see menus below)
• Seafood: mollusks are best: clams (#1), mussels, scallops, oysters, followed by prawns and fish.
• Egg Yolks

Dried Herbs have the #1 most amounts of Iron and many other healthy nutrients. Thyme is the highest, plus my faves like oregano, basil, parsley, black pepper and bay leaf…HEY! that’s my spaghetti sauce recipe! Others include: tarragon, dill, mint, sage, rosemary, and most other green herbs.  

Go Nuts*

Dried seeds & nuts contain more iron than roasted. The Top 2 are Pumpkin & Squash seeds, so start saving them (also widely available in Middle Eastern sections and shops). Sesame seeds and Tahini (for making Hummus), excellent iron.

The Vitamin C Booster Club

• Oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes (whole, juices, marinades, cooking with any fruits/berries)
• Cantaloupe & Honeydew (watermelon etc)
• Strawberries, blueberries, Kiwi, Papaya (any and all fruits & berries)
• All dried fruits, apricots, raisins, prunes, figs, etc (all high in iron AND Vitamin C, so for a healthy energy snack, enjoy them with roasted nuts, ‘granola style’)
• Harvest Time: when fruits and berries are in season (as with every veggie too), they are at their peak of flavor, freshness and nutrition…even better, they are at their lowest price. Buy as much as you can and cook, preserve, dry/dehydrate or freeze them for later days when they are expensive and not grown locally.

Lets start out with some fun, easy, every-day foods:

Breakfasts (remember to keep glancing back up at the lists)

• As often as you can: add a half a grapefruit, melons, or other fresh fruits & berries like peaches, strawberries, apples, oranges, etc to every breakfast.
• Out of fruits? Just add a glass of OJ or another 100% fruit juice.
• *Go nuts for … nuts! Try to add some whenever you can at breakfast and are great energy snacks for later in the day.  Sliced almonds on your cereal? You bet! Sliced Macadamia nuts, cranberries and oranges are great together. (Hint: make some muffins!)
• Hot Oatmeal with some fresh or frozen fruits & berries. (“Laura’s” hint: add a little cinnamon and ‘it’s like eating a blueberry (or Peach) pie for breakfast!”) Dried fruits are good too, but can be a bit chewy, I just pour some hot water over them to plump them up, drain & serve.
• (Please buy regular rolled oats, not the instant stuff in a packet, these often contain high sugars, and artificial flavors/ingredients. Rolled oats just take 5 minutes to cook, let stand covered for 5 minutes… then doll them up yourself with healthy, Vitamin C rich ingredients)
•  Iron fortified cereals (and many are, just check out the labels). Again, just add the Vitamin C rich nuts, fruits & berries.
•  Waffles or Pancakes, mmm with blueberries… try to make them with whole grains, like wheat, rice flour, buckwheat, oats, etc
• 2 egg omelet with tomato slices (or other veggies), dried herbs for a flavor ‘zing’, and hash browns… just not everyday
• “Huevos Rancheros”, just some scrambled eggs with salsa (there’s your tomatoes and herbs), with hash browns or whole wheat/grain tortillas
• “Skillet” style breakfasts, where you combine a bunch of potatoes and veggies. (yes, you can add a little cheese and eggs if you like).
• “Toast” …look for whole grains, multi grain and breads that contain nuts & seeds. To add some Vitamin C… just spread some marmalade or good jam/preserves.

Please try to avoid any heavy fat and high sodium breakfast meats like sausages, bacon and ham.

Lunches & Dinners

• Classic: a spinach salad, then just add some mandarin orange segments. For dressings try using a little lemon juice and a good olive oil. Add a combination of all the fresh greens! Then add a sliced hard boiled egg and sliced nuts… and you’ve got a hearty iron-rich dinner.
• Sun Dried Tomatoes, highest in iron and also contain Vitamin C, are best softened in warm olive oil or just a little hot water. (use that tomato infused olive oil for your dressings or cooking)
• Cucumber Salads: wow, just combine all the iron-rich veggies and you have a great tasting salad: cukes, onions, tomatoes, red & green peppers, drizzled with lemon juice, olive oil and herbs.
• Let’s see, what can we do with tomatoes, garlic, peppers, onions and herbs? Hello Spaghetti sauce! I’m not a big fan of ‘canned’ spaghetti sauces, with their high salt & sugar. So try just cooking up a bunch of tomatoes and fresh veggies, throw in some basil, oregano and thyme. Then pour over some fun pasta shapes. (whole wheat garlic bread and a big salad!)
• Next, what to do with other iron rich foods like dried beans, tomatoes, peppers and onions? Chili soup! Again, please shy away from the canned stuff and make everything fresh. All you need to do is boil water… to cook some really nice beans.
• Soups, are so easy to make healthy, just add tons of veggies and simmer away. What kind of soups can you make with the items listed above?
• Stir Fry: tons of veggies, serve over brown or wild rice. Add sesame seeds – which have one of the highest levels of iron. Garnish with fresh oranges and lemons. Extra iron boost: add lots of ‘greens’ just before serving. (A great dish to make in your iron skillet)
• Fajitas – which is basically a stir fry with spices and fresh squeezed limes. Serve with sliced avocados and thick Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. (until you get a handle on the spices needed, every grocer has dry “Fajita mix” packets) Don’t forget your iron skillet here too.
• Mexican “Platter” meals: tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas, etc… combined with (above), red or green fresh salsas, brown rice, slow simmered or refried beans and a small green salad. (wow, this has a majority of all the iron rich foods, in one meal!)
• Spanish Rice Secret: just add onions & bell peppers, the secret ingredient is: tomato juice (iron & Vitamin C)
• Cabbage rocks. It’s low cost, you get a lot of food for your dollar, and it lasts a long time. You can add it to just about any of the meals above. Try making stuffed cabbage rolls: mixing rice, tomatoes (or a good spaghetti sauce) and lots of fresh veggies. Use diced potatoes instead of rice.
• Stuffed Bell Peppers… just like the cabbage rolls above!
• Potatoes… baked, stuffed with veggies, hash browns, tater salad, and, and, it’s about time I stopped and let you put on your own thinking caps…
• Seafood, especially mollusks: clams, mussels, oysters, scallops and then prawns and fish. One or more of these can be easily combined with most of the above menus. All of these pair very well with citrus, lemons, limes, oranges and fun stuff like mangoes and papaya. Add whole grain pastas or brown/wild rice… and lots of veggies. Try serving them chilled or warm over big salads.
• The Meats… if you must, please do so in moderation and small portions (4 ounces or less)    
• Ok, Ok, I’ll say it, “Liver & Onions” this meal really does have a monstrous iron kick to it.
• The “Elvis” – pork chops & applesauce. Although Elvis had “other” health issues, he was probably not iron deficient (it’s rumored he ate this everyday). Pork livers, like beef are very high in iron.
• Chicken & Turkey, the dark meat has higher iron. The “Giblets” various internal organs of both, are the highest in iron.

Time to get Cooking!

Ok, I’ll end here and let you get into the kitchen. See how easy it is, see how so many of your simple every day foods are iron rich? So take another look at the “iron food” lists and make a nice meal out of them. Also, now that you are armed with iron rich knowledge, take it to the restaurants, when you find a creative high iron combination on a menu… Write to me and I will share the menu items and your own recipes.

Chef “Frankly” Frank Schuchman

www.nkctribune.com/frankly

Wet Tomatoes

Wet seed saving is actually pretty easy, there’s just a few extra steps involved. You’ve all noticed that little “jelly” packet that surrounds all tomato seeds, this is the stuff we have to remove in order to dry the seeds locked inside. Yes, it’s a bit messy, but also kind of fun, plus you are going to have leftovers… the tomatoes, so plan on making something  with them too. Ok, first things first: clean your kitchen, table tops, sink and all your utensils ahead of time.

How to Unlock the Seeds

Since bad bacteria thrive on moisture, we need to remove that moisture filled gel. Allowing moisture to exist on seeds can cause them to rot, it invites bacteria, bad mold and even diseases that can carry over to the plants when they grow.

The Fermentation Way

This method is one of the very oldest ways to remove the pulp and gel that’s on our seeds, so I’ll go old school and teach you how. Remove all your tomato seeds from your (freshly washed under cold running water) tomatoes: The easiest is to simply cut them in half ‘around the equator’. Then stick your finger up inside and coax them out into a deep bowl, big soup pot or bucket.

1. Just Add Water

In your bucket (bowl, etc) gently squish and swish the seed pulp through your hands. Your goal is to make “mush” and yes, get as messy as possible. Don’t pour off or re-rinse, just leave everything in the bowl. Now add a cup of water or so. Swish around and…

2. Let it Stand

Cover your bucket (bowl, etc) and let it stand at room temperature (65°-70°) for at least 3 days. The fermentation process will begin, and you will see a funky layer of goo and mold on top – no worries, this is “good” fermentation mold – and this is supposed to happen.

3. Skim & Rinse

Ok, skim any mold off and throw away. Using a sprayer or a spray aerator head on your faucet, rinse the pulp and seeds several times. As the water rises, so will the pulp and fibers. Swish and squish the seeds around with your fingers. Keep rinsing at full blast. Pour off the pulp as it rises, it’s ok if you lose a few seeds. Keep rinsing until the water is clear.

4. Which are the Good Seeds?

By now you’ve noticed all the seeds have sunk to the bottom, this is good. “Floaters”, clean seeds that come to the surface are not viable, they are dead. Throw them into your compost pile with the pulp and water. The “good seeds” are at the bottom, take a quick swish to see if you have any excess gel  – don’t worry if they are not 100% ‘doctor’s office’ squeaky clean. Rinse out any sediment, pulp, etc that has settled in the bottom.

5. Drain, Strain & Dry

Simply pour off the water. Use a fine mesh strainer, if you use a colander, make sure the drain holes are smaller than the seeds! For drying, I use a screen door insert (found anywhere they sell screen doors), make sure the screen is a washable nylon type, not metal that can rust. Spread the seeds out as thin as possible, not touching is best

Let them air dry (not in direct sunlight, and above 80°) for the next few days. Every so often, move them around so they will dry evenly on all sides. You’ll notice some will be stuck together when they dry, just gently rub the cluster between your fingers and they will separate. Dry these another day to make sure they don’t have any moisture. (remember: moisture causes bacterial growth).

You’re Done

All that is left is to save the seeds properly. (refer to the original Tribune Page 4 “Frankly Speaking ”article, October 11^th, 2012 – reprints are available at the Tribune Offices (509) 674-2511)

Untreated, raw paper envelops work best for seeds (also available at the Tribune Office Supply Store). Always label your seeds with as much info as possible: the specific variety of tomato, the date and a little bit about the plant: “great tomato for spaghetti sauce, got them from Susan’s garden, they grew best along her fence with 10 or more hours of direct sunlight all summer.”  It’s important to note things like the fence, because it acts as a heat source for the plant soil – making them grow much better than if grown in a cooler soil bed with partial shade, wind, etc.

Glass Jars & Cool Places

Store your paper seed packs in an tight fitting glass jar, or other container. Preferably not anything made of plastic. Seeds store best in very dark locations that stay cool (below 45°) all year. Bottom corners of your pantry, a basement or garage work fine. But my fave spot is in the lower drawer of my fridge. This is how many very famous seed saving companies got started… with a fridge in a barn.

The Best seeds produce the Best Plants

Going back to the original article on Seed Saving, always remember to only save the “best-of-the-best” seeds. So if you picked any funky tomatoes that were mushy, old deformed, stunted and obviously diseased… get rid of them… why would you want to grow more of them.

Direct Sunlight

Gardeners ask all the time why I always say to not dry veggies and seeds in the sun. “But it seems so natural…” Well, your seeds & veggies can actually get sunburns. The unstable high heat and UV rays can damage their skins, just like we get sunburned. Plus we all know how windy it can get around here, you don’t want to come home to… empty screens! (also, birds and squirrels like seeds too, so don’t build them a buffet)

Tomato Time!

Ok, now you have 50 tomatoes that you’ve squished the guts out of… lets cook them up for use another day. Simply throw them all into a heavy bottomed soup pot. Crank the heat to boiling, then turn down and simmer for at least 1 hour. (at 2 hours they get nice & sweet). You do not need to add water or anything else. Just simmer the toms, let them cool to the touch, then hand “mash” them and freeze. You have just made a very natural “hand crushed’ tomato sauce – better than anything you could ever buy in a store.

I fill zip-lock bags, squeeze all the air out and create nice little “pillows” in my freezer. They will last at least 6 months. (at my house only about half that time, because they are so versatile).

Salt. Another mystery-myth that many people promote “You must add lots of salt, it acts as a preservative”. Well, in the case of freezing slow-simmered cooked tomatoes, I disagree completely. I have no use for salt, especially when cooking anything. I tend to rely on the wonderfully nutritious & natural flavors that the garden produces rather than adding sodium chloride.

Chef Frank’s October Harvest Faves

What do I add to tomatoes? … is what is being harvested September thru October: chili peppers of all kinds, sweet to stupid-hot. Lots of garlic & onions with a heavy hand of oregano. You simply cannot cook (or purchase) better than this: locally grown fresh vegetables, harvested at their peak of maturity. You’ll get the highest amounts of nutrition, flavor and textures… at the lowest prices of the year. Perfect!

This is my “go-to” blend for just about anything, from dollop into mom’s chicken soup to a deep rich spaghetti sauce or a big batch of chili…

Back to Mint Recipes Page

Back to Mint Recipes Page

Back to Mint Recipes Page

Frankly, I’m ready to stop growing & harvesting… it’s time to tie the apron on! These recipes are for spearmint, I still have yet to do any cooking with peppermint… for a “just brushed your teeth” freshness chew up a bunch of fresh peppermint!

Click for More Mint Marinade Recipes

Soups & Sauces

No I haven’t put a bunch of mint into my spaghetti sauce (yet), but mint does pair well with tomatoes (as in the above marinade). Garnish a bowl of creamy tomato soup with a few leaves of fresh mint. Add mint to your next beef or lamb stew, sprinkle dried mint into ground lamb/wild game. Minty Lamburgers!

Fresh vs. Dried

When heating & cooking with mint, you can certainly use dried mint leaves. 1 TBL fresh mint is equivalent to 1 tsp dried mint.

Turmeric & Cumin

Common in so many Indian and Asian recipes, just add mint! Turmeric is spicy and turns everything a bright saffron yellow/orange. Cumin is mild and aromatic… just like mint. Make a batch of rice, or beef or chicken gravy add the 2 spices and mint… add sautéed chopped onions, red bell peppers, lots of garlic, then finish with fresh lemon juice. These flavors pair very will with chicken and my fave: prawns & scallops!

Use mint where you would use fresh basil or parsley

Try a couple of tiny mint leaves (or blossoms) on heirloom tomato slices with fresh mozzarella – a twist on a Caprese, to serve: drizzle with a good Balsamic vinegar and extra virgin Olive Oil.

Salads – of course. Sprinkle mint onto any green salad. Italian dressing, oil & vinegar based dressing all go well… even Ranch. One of my faves is French or Catalina red dressings, perfect with a little mint chopped into them.

Click for Tabbouleh or Couscous Salad recipe

Compound Mint Butter

“Compound” is a fancy chef term for adding sliced mint (or other herbs) to softened butter and chilling or freezing for later use. Roll a bunch of mint leaves into a tight cigar shape, then slice end to end as thin as you can into tiny strands, add to softened butter, roll into a log shape with plastic wrap and freeze. Leave frozen and just slice off a medallion when you need some. Great on an English muffin or crunchy French bread. Wonderful for sautéing up some fresh veggies.

Snacks and Dipping Sauces

Go healthy by adding more fruits to your daily meals & snacks. When adding fruit to yogurt add fresh mint leaves (kids love these).

Mint pairs well with just about any citrus fruits. Pears, pineapples, mangoes, apples, oranges, all red berries and my fave – grapefruit. Make freezer jams or jellies with fresh mint, you can’t go wrong.

Refreshingly Minty Drinks

As you now know, mint and citrus go very well together, so add some to your favorite fruity drinks, lemonade, an “Arnold Palmer” 50/50 fresh lemonade and iced tea, delicious in cranberry juice, orange juice and well, experiment…

Drink Up! (Adults Only)

Click for Mint Julep Recipe

Click for Mojito Recipe

Mint… me!

Ok, these should give you some starting points to use up your spearmint. If you have some fun ideas, recipes and stories about mint, please write to me and I can share them here. Also, I have no idea for uses with peppermint in any cooking methods… if you do, let me know ok?

Thanks for reading!

-Chef “Frankly” Frank Schuchman

Frankly, now that you have so much mint… let’s harvest some.

The best part of the growing plant are the new, young fresh tops. (This is true with most herbs like oregano, marjoram, basil, thyme, rosemary, etc) This is where their “essential oils” are most concentrated.

Harvest as much as you can as soon as you see flower buds forming. Flowering signifies the end of the growing process, telling the plant “I’m done, time to shut down” and go to seed for the next year. So your herbs will lose their flavors and delicate oils the longer it grows once it has flowered.

Yes, you can eat the flower blossoms of all culinary herbs. Yum! (Regular and Garlic Chive blossoms are a fave!) By harvesting the buds, blossoms and upper leaves surrounding them your plants will grow longer and more intensely. Over the course of a summer you can harvest 7 to 10 times!

As mint grows, you will see the lower leaves begin to yellow and fade, no need to throw these out, I dry them for aromatic simmering-water potpourri use in the winter ahead, just label them properly (“non-edible”)after drying. (save the stems for the same use)

When to Harvest

This is my favorite part of growing. You get up early, have nice breakfast, with maybe some mint tea… go outside, make sure it will be a gorgeous sunny day ahead and there is no morning dew on the plants. Begin harvesting while it is still cool out (harvest by one or more of the methods below) and before the sun hits them. The sunlight and heat activate chemical reactions in herbs and they will be lower quality if picked in the hot afternoon. (pretty cool eh…never knew that did ya)

Sidebar: as you harvest herbs on that clear sunny morning, drinking in the incredible aromas that fill your backyard gardens, look around you and thank yourself for doing such a great thing for your life.To Harvest, pinch the top… or build bouquets

In all methods of harvesting herbs, be gentle, they can bruise easily and that will cause them to decompose rapidly.

I harvest mint (and herbs) several ways, first is to pull off the flower buds, blossoms and upper leaves on a regular basis. Check it out: taste a top young mint leaf, then go half way down the plant and taste an older larger leaf, notice how the top leaf tasted so much better!

I dry them on a used window screen, or screen door insert. (you can find these for pennies at the Habitat for Humanity “Re-Store” in Ellensburg – a really nice big one, 3’ x 4’ will run you about a dollar) Or you can buy brand new ones a most hardware stores that sell doors and windows.

Drying takes time, at least a couple of weeks in a cool, dry area with good airflow and no sunlight. Test a flower top or two for dryness. –see below for storing techniques.

Bundle Method – is to cut whole stems and build hanging bouquet bundles. Spearmint grows tall (2’ to 3’ feet high) and narrow, I just cut them off near the soil, gently rinse off under cold running water (no bugs and germs) and individually let them completely air dry of any moisture before tying into a bundle of 7-8 stems. I pull off any yellowing or discolored lower leaves (again save these too for non-cooking aromatic uses – a small bowl of them in the bathroom is really nice)

Hanging Bundles

If you tie too many together and/or they are not completely dry, they can begin to decompose and heat up. That means they will begin to rot and get stinky, yuck. I use unbleached cotton twine or other natural fiber string. Hang them upside down/soil stems up, in cool shaded place, not in direct sunlight.

Drying Time

This usually takes several months. You want the stems to completely dry out, check them by breaking one off at the soil end and when it snaps cleanly, they are dry and ready for storing.

Last, if you want a nice dinner table centerpiece or a room freshener, harvest more stems and throw them in a vase like roses. Remove the lower leaves so they don’t touch the water (they begin to rot in the water and shorten the lifespan). Cut the stems at an angle for more water absorption. Then just change the water, re-cut stems every couple of days and your bouquet will last 7-10 days.

Storing

This is the easy part. Gently strip the leaves off the stems, keeping the leaves as fully intact as you can (crushing the leaves causes them to releasing their oils, losing their flavors and aromas) Just keep them in any air tight container away from heat and light, especially sunlight. Ok, I’ll tell you, sunlight can actually ‘burn’ dried herbs, zapping them of their flavors, essential oils and aromas. Heat does the same thing… so never store any herbs over or near the stove.

Jars are best because you can use them over and over for many years. Zip-Lock style bags are fine, but are petroleum based products (and don’t get me started…)

All herbs only last 1 year. Sorry but true. Herbs especially super-aromatics like Mint last even less, maybe 6 months. It’s not that the herbs ‘spoil’ they just lose all of their flavor& aromas as they continue to dry out. Who wants to cook with pale weakling herbs? Besides, I want you enhancing and enjoying your meals with the flavors of herbs every single day.

Time to Crush

To use dried herbs, you need to gently crush them to release their essential aromatic and flavorful oils. Do this by simply placing a small amount in the palm of your hand, using your other thumb, rub the herbs into you palm then add to whatever you are cooking. (hint: smell your palm – see what I said about the aromatic oils being released?) For dried mint tea leaves, I leave them whole so you can easily strain them out before serving. – next: Part IV … the recipes!

Frankly,  mint is so versatile, I just could not write enough about it in the short space of my weekly column. So here are more thoughts and uses for this wonderful herb. These steps and methods will hold true for just about every other herb where you consume the leaves: Oregano, Basil, Thyme, Marjoram, Rosemary, Savory, Chives, etc.

~ Let’s begin with growing mint at home ~

Growing Up

I do want to caution you about growing mint in Upper County. The problem is it grows very, very well here, meaning it can get quite invasive. It will grow year after year and each year, it will take over more and more space. It thrives in average soil, it doesn’t mind shade or full sun and even a little neglect. But don’t neglect where you plant it. If left alone in just a few short years it can overtake your gardens and yard!

That’s why in the article I mentioned to start it in deck planter boxes. Use a natural untreated wood, like a half wine barrel, or other large planter. If the vessel is too small you run the risk of the plant freezing to death in our long cold winters.  Use a small amount of good quality top soil and generously add a lot of vegetable potting mix (available at garden centers and nurseries – make sure the soils are for growing vegetables)

Soil Notes

Mint, like most herbs does not require super rich soil conditions or fertilizers. Herbs seem to be built to grow fast so if you were to improve their growing conditions, they “grow up way too fast”. As parents we know, this is not always a good thing. Artificially speeding up growth, they can get tall and spindly, lowering their deep flavors and rich aromas.  They can go to flower more quickly, again reducing their matured flavors and essential oils.

So go for a moderate soil, not too rich, not too barren. Clay soils, like everywhere in Upper County, are not good for herbs, poor drainage and lack of oxygen means poor growing plants.

In late October after our first few really heavy frosts, your mint will wilt and (apparently) die. No worries, it’s ok, only the stocks and leaves that have withered, the core plant & root system are fine and have gone dormant. I make a blend of 3-4 cups of good organic compost with 1-2 cups of Peat Moss and work it into the top soil (for my wine barrel example). Then I cover the plant with a thick layer (6” inches or more)of straw (not Hay)and/or 2-3 burlap bags. This will keep them toasty during the rest of the winter.

In the spring, after the last of the snows (April/May), remove the covers and mulch in some good organic compost mixed with a little Peat Moss, water and stand back.

Keep Growing…

To watch mint grow in the spring is really amazing. It will send out runners like strawberries do. These long octopus like ‘tentacles’ can stretch out several feet long (especially with Peppermint). Every few inches will be a set of small leaves… each set is a new plant. In the first couple of years of growing, from the ‘mother’ plant you may see 20 or more of these runners, each carrying 50 to 100… new plants! Yes, your math is correct… 2,000 possible new plants can come from the original mint.

To grow new plants

Peppermint has above ground runners,  I just cut off 6” inches of a runner and plant it about ½” inch under the soil and you now have a new mint set. Spearmint will send up underground runners/shoots in the spring. Find a new baby plant near the mother plant. Dig down deeply and simply cut off the plant, it will have a root system established. Re-pot into a container and you’re done. Last year (2011) I potted up at least 20 six inch and twelve inch deck pots and gave them away to friends and neighbors. And my original plants seemed to flourish even better after their “haircut”.

Alternative Methods

Sequester your mint from getting out of hand by building a raised bed for just your mint. In the bottom of the box use weed barrier in several layers before you fill it with soil. You can also dig down at least 8-12 inches and make a wooden box underground. (still, I’ve had mint “jump the fence” and keep growing) Others have sunk a deck planter, like a wine barrel, half under the soil and half out (they look kind of nice too). Just make sure any planter has holes in the bottom for drainage.

Types

There are many types of mint these days, but I just stick with the 2 basic varieties, Spearmint – the basic green leafed mint, yes, used in gum, candies and has many culinary & medicinal uses.

Peppermint – yes, the stuff they flavor candy canes with. It looks really cool, small dark green leaves with hints of purple down the stems. Both have beautiful (and fragrant) flowers in early summer.

(Hmmm… “Breath Mint” I wonder where they came up with the name?)

Pennyroyal – is ornamental and should not be eaten – they make bug spray out of the stuff… there are other ornamental mints like “Corsican” which are a low growing ground covers… and smell great when you walk over them.

How NOT to Grow Mint

I have no clue.

Ok, you now have a ton of mint, let’s get cooking! Next, recipes and ideas on how to harvest, store and cook with mint! – next: Part III, Harvesting and Storing Mint & Herbs!