Drying Mint Leaves at home

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The mint plants are growing so well I have to keep cutting and drying them, and I now have opted for a bigger container: my dish drainer which I don't use often enough.

And I have to start labelling them so that I don't get mint mixed up with basil, as they will lose their distinctive shapes when dried. 

Here's my little labelling stick: 2 small labelling stickers on a toothpick 😄



Last update: 15 Sep, 2017

Since replanting the mint, I've trimmed and pruned (and try to root more for planting again) a few times to try making the plant more bushy. Whilst I'm not planning to cook anything with mint at the moment and the amount of mint leaves I cut are not exactly enough to make mint sauce immediately, I'll have to preserve them by drying.


The process may take up to a week or so, depending on the weather, but it's not a complicated one. I'm doing it 100% manually, as we do not have any high-tech equipment specially built for that. All I do is to place a clean tea towel over a colander, arrange the mint leaves on the tea towel in 1 layer. I'll place another colander on top, upside down, to prevent them from being blown away or being disturbed by bugs.

Every now and again I'll shuffle them around to get more air circulation, as some leaves may get stuck onto the tea towel.

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