Drying Mints in My Food Dehydrator!

I cut stems with the best leaves from the ‘Basil’ mint in my garden. Washed the leaves and placed them on the bottom shelf of My Kitchen Food Dehydrator from Lakeland.

I love growing herbs. I get such pleasure from growing plants with tantalising flavours to enhance our meals and drinks. Just a small pot of mint can enhance cocktails, herbal teas, savoury dishes, fruit salads, and more decadent desserts. With autumn‘s arrival, I’m mindful that I don’t want to waste the lovely fresh leaves that will soon wither when the weather changes and frosts arrive.

The next shelf contains the leaves of Mint ‘Mojito’.

I’ve not used my Lakeland My Kitchen Food Dehydrator for ages, so I decided to dry some of my garden herbs. I really enjoy comparing the flavours of fresh and dried ingredients. I am always amazed at how I can dramatically improve the flavour of bland supermarket cherry tomatoes simply by using my dehydrator.

The third shelf has the smaller leaves from my Mint ‘After Eight’ plant.

If you’ve not got a dehydrator, don’t worry – you can dry herbs on a tray in an oven, just make sure you set your oven to the lowest temperature and check the progress regularly. You could even try drying herbs in a warm oven, using the left over heat from cooking. Take your cooked dishes out of the oven, turn the oven off and then pop your tray of herbs in to dry. Too hot a heat will toast and then burn the herbs, so do take care! Alternatively, simply hang up your herbs in a warm, dry room and leave them to dry.

Another method of preserving herbs is to freeze them; an ice cube tray can be really useful for this. Wash the herbs, chop them up, and then freeze in an ice cube tray, or alternatively freeze herbs as a thin layer on a plate or tray. I’d advise keeping your herb layers thin, so that you can easily break off and use your frozen herbs while you’re cooking. Don’t go too mad and create a thick slab of frozen herbs that requires a pick axe to chip away and release your prize ingredients!

I didn’t have as many ‘Swiss’ Mint leaves to dry, but I was particularly excited at the idea of trying this mint dehydrated, as this is such an intensely flavoured mint.

Thinking back to about 25 years ago, I used to divide all my mint plants at the beginning of November, as I found this was the best time to divide and re-pot all of my mints. Our weather, temperatures, and our seasons have changed since then, and I now find that December or January is the optimum time to divide my mint plants.

‘Basil Mint’ has a savoury mint flavour which works well in risotto, salads, and sandwiches. I enjoyed adding ‘Basil Mint’ to add flavour to a pitta bread with vegan cream cheese. Yummy!

I purchase all of my mints and herbs from UK nurseries that raise their plants in peat-free compost, including Pepperpot Herbs and Norfolk Herbs. I’ve purchased some fantastic plants from these nurseries and would wholeheartedly recommend them.

‘Orange Mint’ has a milder flavour with a citrus aroma.

All of my plants are grown in containers of peat-free compost. I recommend growing mint in containers, as mints are vigorous plants that will run rampant in the garden if left unchecked. Mint thrives in a container. I find that these plants do really need annual division and re-potting, but for best results, wait until December or January to do this. However, by popping a pot of mint inside your greenhouse, polytunnel, or conservatory now you will enjoy fresh herbs leaves for a little longer than gardeners who keep all of their mint outdoors.

This is ‘After Eight’ mint, which really does have the same flavour as After Eight mints!

When I’m in the garden, I enjoy nibbling on a mint leaf as I make my way to our wildlife pond; as I brush past the mint plants they release a wonderful aroma.

‘Mojito Mint’ makes a lovely tea with a pleasing sweetness.

If you’ve not got a stash of herbs in your freezer, this is a great time to freeze or dry sage, rosemary, and other herbs. We always freeze and dry sage for Christmas.

When using a dehydrator, wherever possible fill each shelf with herbs, vegetables, or fruit for drying; don’t place your leaves as sparingly as I have here, as you don’t want to waste space or electricity. I have added a different variety of mint for each shelf, as this allows me to keep the flavours separate. This mint is ‘Swiss Mint’. I preferred my cup of ‘Swiss Mint’ tea made with dried leaves to the cup made with fresh leaves.

I hope you can have some time out to relax in your garden with a cup of homegrown herbal tea. Mint tea is so reviving; it’s a great pick-me-up!

A lovely cup of Mojito mint tea, made using mint I’ve grown in containers in my garden. I’ve been drying herbs using my Lakeland My Kitchen Dehydrator.

When harvesting herbs, look out for caterpillars and other insects. Thankfully, I didn’t cut very many of my mint stems, as I discovered an Angle Shades Moth Caterpillar on the ‘Basil’ mint leaves that I had cut to dry. I popped this little chap safely back outside on the same ‘Basil’ mint plant.

I found this Angle Shades Moth caterpillar (Phlogophora meticulosa) on the ‘Basil’ mint in my garden. Pictured on the 19th November 2022.

I swiftly returned this caterpillar back to the container of ‘Basil’ mint in my garden after taking this photograph. Pictured on the 19th November 2022.

Here’s the adult moth that this caterpillar will transform into. This is a very commonly found moth with beautiful markings. I saw this Angle Shades Moth (Phlogophora meticulosa) during my Moth Night 2021 Moth Count.

For gardening advice for December, please click here.

For articles about houseplants, please click here.

For more articles about edible gardening, please click here.

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