Homemade mint syrup
About homemade mint syrup
Homemade mint syrup has a refreshing taste and a very beautiful natural green color. Since I love the freshness of mint, I use fresh mint for tea, sweets and cooking. And this time, I would like to share a mint syrup that is easy to make and has a beautiful color.
You can dilute the mint syrup with water or carbonated water and drink it, or use it for dessert. After blending and straining, you can use very fine mint for cooking and desserts as well. So, you use mint thoroughly except for the stem.
Below is a link to the health benefits and nutrition of mint leaves, please read it if you like.
Recipe tips
Making mint syrup is quite easy. However, it takes some effort to make the syrup color beautiful green. If you make mint syrup the usual way, it will inevitably turn brown. The reason is that mint oxidizes and discolors.
In this recipe, blanch the mint to improve its color and immediately cool it with cold water to prevent the mint from oxidizing. Also, make a syrup with water and sugar in advance and cool it well. Since one of the causes of oxidation of mint syrup is “oxidation by heat”, keeping the sugar water cold slows down the oxidation of mint.
Then mix the mint and sugar syrup in a blender to make the mint finer and this process transfers the mint pigment to syrup. It will be a very beautiful color.
Pour the syrup into a clean jar or bottle with a lid. If you leave it at room temperature, the syrup will start to oxidize, so please put it in the refrigerator immediately. You can store it in the refrigerator for about a week.
Ideas for using mint syrup
The easiest way to use mint syrup is to dilute it with water or carbonated water to make a “mint drink”.
Besides, it is also delicious when sprinkled over jelly or ice cream. I often eat it over a simple milk agar jelly. And it’s also a good idea to freeze a little water-diluted syrup and process it in a food processor to make sorbet. You can add fine leaves to this if you like.
The remaining fine mint leaves are refreshing and delicious when mixed with a salad dressing. Moreover you can mix it with marinades of fruits or add a little to smoothies or meat dishes.
Homemade mint syrup
Equipment
- 1 Blender or hand blender
Ingredients
- 35 gram Fresh mint leaves (removed stem)
- 350 ml Water (please see note below)
- 360 gram Granulated sugar (Please see note below)
Instructions
- Separate the leaves and stems. Weigh the mint leaves. (As an indication, you need 10 grams of water and sugar for every 1 gram of mint leaves). Wash the mint leaves with water and place it on a paper towel. Gently wipe off the water with a paper towel.
- Make sugar water. Put sugar and water in a pan and mix well, and heat until the sugar melts and becomes transparent. In this state, the sugar water is quite hot, so cool down the pot in cold water and cool it to room temperature. After cooling to room temperature, cool it further in the refrigerator. (If you don't have time, put it in the freezer when it reaches room temperature.)
- Boil water, add mint leaves, and blanch for 10 seconds while gently stirring.
- After draining the water with a colander, put the mint leaves in ice cold water and let it cool for 15 to 20 seconds. When the mint has cooled, drain it again with a colander and use paper towel paper to absorb excess water.
- Put blanched mint leaves and cold sugar water in a blender, and process for 30 seconds. When the mint leaves becomes fine, leave it for about 20 minutes (you can leave it in the blender).
- Remove the mint with a fine-grained tea strainer. If the tea strainer becomes clogged, you can rotate or tilt the tea strainer a little and it will work. (Do not throw away the mint left in the tea strainer, and use it for desserts and cooking.）
- Refrigerate as soon as you transfer it to a jar or bottle with a lid.
Notes
It’s refreshing and delicious, so please make it. Below I put a link to a recipe for easy milk agar jelly that goes well with mint syrup.
Thank you for reading and Bon Appetit!