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66 votes
Accepted

Mint vs Peppermint

Peppermint is a hybrid breed of two plants belonging to the mint genus, spearmint and watermint. In my experience, when 'mint' is referred to by itself without any other descriptors, it usually refers ...
dark stuart's user avatar
49 votes

Can I dissolve mint in water and drink it?

No, mint won't dissolve in water (leaves are mostly cellulose), but it does make excellent tea. Boiling water, steep 5-6 minutes. For best results, I recommending purchasing whole leaf mint intended ...
LightBender's user avatar
  • 1,907
35 votes

Is there a Scoville scale for "coldness" (e.g. mint)?

There are thermal sensation scales, and they are applied in food research too, although their primary use tends to be focused on clothing or environment. They tend to be categorical rather than ratio ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 137k
27 votes

Do I need to rip the leaves off mint?

You probably don't need to remove the stalks from the leaves, especially for young plants. However, the older and stronger the stalk becomes, the less appetizing it will be, in my opinion. To rip the ...
John Doe's user avatar
  • 3,518
22 votes

Can I dissolve mint in water and drink it?

Mint leaves, and plant matter in general, won’t dissolve in water no matter how finely you grind them. They are largely made of substances which are simply not (very) soluble in water. At best you’ll ...
Sneftel's user avatar
  • 26.9k
21 votes

What type of mint in tzatziki?

The standard "mint" is spearmint, and peppermint would usually be called "peppermint". You wouldn't want to blend peppermint into any kind of sauce, it's much too strong for that.
Esther's user avatar
  • 2,288
17 votes

Can I dissolve mint in water and drink it?

You have several options for mint-flavored water, and none of them includes dissolving dried mint leaves in it. As others said, leaves don't dissolve in water (plants would be in a lot of trouble if ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 137k
16 votes
Accepted

What type of mint in tzatziki?

It refers to spearmint in this case. You can find both spearmint (Mentha spicata, known in Greek as δυόσμος) and peppermint (Mentha × piperita, generally known as μέντα, though that may be used for ...
Austin Hemmelgarn's user avatar
12 votes

Do I need to rip the leaves off mint?

It depends on your mint, and even the time of year. I grow mint in a pot in the garden, and the early growth of the year can be chopped (finely) stems and all for things like potato salad or falafel. ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 43.8k
11 votes

Difference between tzatziki and Indian mint dip (mint chutney?)

As far as I'm aware, the traditional Greek tzatziki doesn't generally include mint at all. It's a cucumber dip that is made of yogurt and sometimes includes dill or mint as a flavoring: Tzatziki (...
Catija's user avatar
  • 16.5k
9 votes

Time effective technique for separating mint leaves from stems

Hold the stalk by the tip of the steam and then run your forefinger and thumb down the stalk. You can then just pinch the soft top leaves off and add them to the pile. E.g. in this youtube video ...
Gamora's user avatar
  • 722
9 votes

Time effective technique for separating mint leaves from stems

Separating the leaves of mint from the stem is only necessary if the stem is woody, which partly depends on the variety and age of the mint. The stems of young mint shoots on most varieties of plant ...
GdD's user avatar
  • 75.4k
7 votes

How to stop mint flavor dying when cooking?

While it is true that the mint flavor will fade with cooking, it is still there to some degree. I bet you would be able to identify the difference if you left it out. However, whenever you want to ...
moscafj's user avatar
  • 73.8k
7 votes

Difference between tzatziki and Indian mint dip (mint chutney?)

Mint chutney is normally almost all herbs (mint and cilantro), and it's ground/blended so it's completely green: (from this mint chutney recipe) I can't really see the chutney/dip in your picture ...
Cascabel's user avatar
  • 58.2k
6 votes
Accepted

How to make mint syrup with minimum water?

Well - not exactly. The reason that this technique works with lemons is that they actually do contain quite a bit of water. It's not so much "water-free" as it is using the residual water from the ...
logophobe's user avatar
  • 14.9k
5 votes

Is there a Scoville scale for "coldness" (e.g. mint)?

Scoville's original method for determinig the Scoville level of a pepper was to dry the pepper, extract the heat components, and continunally dilute the extract until the majority of a panel of ...
schimmch's user avatar
  • 126
5 votes

Can I dissolve mint in water and drink it?

In pure water, no plant matter will actually dissolve. You can get close by forming a suspension (this is how green tea made using matcha is made, as well as hot cocoa), but it will not actually ...
Austin Hemmelgarn's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Is "mintiness" a well-defined thing?

The mints in general - spearmint and peppermint - have the cooling mouthfeel associated to ligants to CRM1 (now named TRPM8) receptors. The various nuances in flavor are given by other molecules, like ...
Juliana Karasawa Souza's user avatar
4 votes

What type of mint are mint leaves from supermarkets?

It is whatever they had on hand. There seems to be a statistically higher chance to get spearmint, but they sell other mints too. From the point of view of the supermarket, the ambiguity is not a bug, ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 137k
4 votes

My mint tea tastes like a weed

Check your mint, as not all mints taste good. Avoid Orange Mint, which smells minty and tastes like orange-zested peppermint dirt. Chocolate mint? Not in tea, either. A similar fooler is the wine-...
Yosef Baskin's user avatar
3 votes

How can I extract menthol powder from fresh mint/peppermint?

One option would be to make a syrup. Heating water and sugar with the mint, and straining the mint leaves out would be enough to make a simple syrup - altering the ratio of sugar to water will ...
Megha's user avatar
  • 11.8k
3 votes

How can I extract menthol powder from fresh mint/peppermint?

This is a fun question, but your plan is not very practical. If you indeed insist on doing it, you have three steps in the process of menthol extraction: Extract the essential oil from the leaves ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 137k
3 votes
Accepted

Storing lemon juice with crushed mint

I'd make it into ice cubes. They'd add decorative interest too. Fridge, maybe a week, freezer, more like 6 months. There's a full list of storage times in How long can I store a food in the pantry, ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 29.7k
3 votes

what are the Cheap substitute of menthol that can be used in mint?

There are absolutely no substitutes, neither cheap nor expensive. First, the cooling effect is due to a very rare coincidence. It so happens that menthol is chemically capable of activating one of ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 137k
3 votes

What's the proper way to muddle mint for a julep or mojito?

Actually the right way to make a mojito is bruising the mint. A lot of bartenders just use a couple of stalks of mint and slap it. Mint (as some other herbs) have microscopic hair, which releases the ...
Dominik MJ opinionated alchemi's user avatar
3 votes

Can I dissolve mint in water and drink it?

You can grind dried mint in any blender or food processor. You don't need a particularily good blender, as long as the mint is dry enough you should end up with something similar to Matcha Tea, maybe ...
Sogaki's user avatar
  • 31
2 votes

How to make mint syrup with minimum water?

My preferred method would be to juice the mint in one of those juicers meant for wheat grass which can get a ton of moisture even from a dryish plant, then use this juice pure or dissolved in sugar. ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 137k
2 votes

Preventing discoloration when making fresh mint liqueur

Idea 1: Assuming the leaves are oxidizing: you could add an antioxidant. Vitamin C is handy and will scrounge up oxygen radicals. Crush up some pills and shake them in. It will make it a little ...
Willk's user avatar
  • 6,626

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