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Herbal Spotlight: Applemint, with Herb-Crusted Chevre & Applemint Vinaigrette Recipes

7/28/2020

We inherited many botanical treasures with the purchase of this 1841 house & barn, but my favorite by far is the enormous patch of heirloom wooly applemint! It is truly a gift for us & for the bees. It flowers nonstop from mid-July on through to first frost, providing an unending supply for nectar for the bees & ‘minty-goodness’ for our family all through Summer & Fall. And, while the cultivars of Mentha suaveolens available now in nurseries grow about 20” tall, our heirloom strain grows Alice-In-Wonderland high--with some spikes hitting 6’ in height! Our patch is pollinator & herbalist Heaven!

Mentha suaveolens: botanical drawing

A beautiful & delicious herb, applemint has many fantastic culinary, medicinal & decorative properties. A nigh-invulnerable member of the mint family, applemint has a brighter, sweeter flavor than most mints. She is a tough one--& will gladly overrun an area if allowed free reign, so is best tucked aside or even grown in pots if that is not your aim. Applemint has been traditionally used for digestive issues, headaches & fevers, as an antiseptic [it's great on bee stings,] & for skincare. It is very high in nutrients like iron, potassium, calcium, & the powerful antioxidants Vitamins A & C. Applemint leaves have been shown to help in breaking down fat & accelerating metabolism level. It also provides a cooling effect to the skin when applied. Applemint is best used medicinally as tea [fresh or dried] or tinctured.

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Herbal Spotlight: Chamomile with Old-Fashioned, Chamomile Ice Cream Recipe

7/13/2020

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beginning the infusion process

Chamomile is a 100% must-have-on-hand-at-all-times, year-round used herb. She does EVERYTHING from clearing up our skin to soothing our nerves, & tastes great doing it! Now is the time of year when the chamomile plants go into overdrive -- & so do we in an effort to ensure we have a strong supply for the rest of the year. Despite drying & tincturing tons of it, we always ensure there is some left over to enjoy in drinks & desserts right now too!

Iced chamomile tea with cream & vanilla is the perfect, relaxing refresher after a hard day of gardening & yard work, & has been a go-to-staple in our house forever. A couple years back, I had a lovely chamomile ice cream at the Bistro [props here to you, Meredith!] & it inspired me to create my own version, pulling in the cream & vanilla notes from our tea.

This is a rich-tasting, old-fashioned style ice cream with a classic custard base -- Heavenly & 1,000 times tastier than any you’ll find at the store. I reduce the amount of sugar used quite drastically [most custard based recipes use about 2 ½ cups of sugar -- I use only 1 cup] in order to maximize the herbaceous-floral flavor from the chamomile.

I do use rather a lot of egg yolks [pavlovas or egg-white omelets later, anyone?] here, but I find the richness they give is the perfect, deep-note foil for all the ‘high’ the flowers bring to it. When making homemade ice cream, time & patience are your allies -- Rest assured, your waiting will pay off in the end! Let’s get started!

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Herbal Spotlight: Applemint, with Herb-Crusted Chevre & Applemint Vinaigrette Recipes

Herbal Spotlight: Chamomile with Old-Fashioned, Chamomile Ice Cream Recipe

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Herbal Spotlight: Applemint, with Herb-Crusted Chevre & Applemint Vinaigrette Recipes

Herbal Spotlight: Chamomile with Old-Fashioned, Chamomile Ice Cream Recipe

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'Beautiful & responsible'

207-563-6256 Dujardin.me@gmail.com © Du Jardin 2019

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