Rain and gardening neglect have given me scads of mint, which might have been planted intentionally at some point, but now grows weed-like in our yard. With semi-arid conditions and ledge for soil, it does well where next-to-nothing else will.
(I miss my Maine garden, which annually produced tomatoes, arugula, cukes, peppers, etc. and seemed to tolerate my black thumb.)
With all that mint and a ‘When Given Lemons’ attitude, I made Crème de Menthe. I used this recipe, but deviated (as I usually do with recipes) by using more mint. I splurged and bought good vodka. This faux crystal Absolut bottle has a fun light-up feature and was on sale to boot.
It turned out marvelously! The finished product shines with a beautiful green-yellow translucence and tastes divine. I plan on using it with iced tea, mojitos, on chocolate ice cream, in milkshakes, and come winter, hot chocolate
For those of you who’d like to make your own batch, click here.