Peppermint is widely known as a sedative, but it is refreshing and gives the body energy. Especially often it is added to tea, as well as to other drinks, including alcohol. Mint recipes can be listed endlessly. This plant is used for salads, and for desserts, and for decorating baking. However, few people know yet another very unusual use case for this plant. It turns out that you can cook incredibly tasty and certainly healthy mint jam. We are used to preparing it mainly from fruits and berries, but there are more exotic versions of this treat for tea.
Lime and Lemon Mint Jam
In order to prepare a refreshing mint jam, you will need the following components:
- mint leaves (ground) - a glass;
- lemon - 1 piece;
- lime - 2 pieces;
- sugar - 2 glasses;
- one bag of pectin.
We will cook in the slow cooker. First, prepare all the ingredients. Wash the mint, dry and grind it (you can do it with a blender or simply with a sharp knife), wash the lemon and lime as well and cut it very finely. Pour all the components into the multicooker bowl, pour pectin on top. You need to cook in the "Soup" mode for five minutes, until a sufficient amount of juice is allocated. Then we filter the mixture and pour sugar into the resulting mint-lemon-lime cocktail.
We turn on the same mode again and continue cooking: the syrup first boils, and then begins to thicken. This process is short-lived and will take about 15 minutes. The main thing, do not forget to constantly stir it with a spatula. In hot form, pour the mint jam into a jar prepared according to the rules and twist.
Jam with Melissa and Mint
There is another recipe that uses not only mint, but also lemon balm (a fragrant essential oil plant). We take in equal proportions the fresh leaves of one and the other plant, a total of 600 grams should be obtained. This amount of grass will require 1.5 kilograms of sugar and a little more than a glass of water (300 g). In addition, for acid, you need to add a tablespoon of lemon juice.
The preparation of mint jam according to this recipe will differ as follows:
- you need to cook it in a saucepan on fire (and not in a slow cooker);
- leaves do not need to be crushed, we do not put lemon (only juice);
- the syrup is not filtered, but is boiled and bottled with mint leaves.
Mint and lemon balm, dry and put in a saucepan. We fill them with 1/2 of the indicated amount of sugar, cover the dishes with a cotton towel. From the second part of sugar, water and fresh lemon juice, we cook the syrup. Fill them with mint leaves and lemon balm and leave for 5 hours, so that the mixture is infused. After that, put the pan on low heat and cook after boiling for 6-7 minutes. Without filtering and not cooling, pour into jars and roll up. The jam should have a clear pale green color. Here is such a healthy, fragrant and very beautiful preparation for the winter! It goes well with green tea. In addition, jam can be used as a syrup for impregnation of biscuits, add to a creamy cream, pour over it ready-made muffins, etc.
Be sure to treat your relatives and friends with this delicacy, let them appreciate your unusual emerald mint jam. Reviews, be sure to exceed all expectations. Spend the winter with taste and no colds!