Bren, you wonderful boy, When are you going to start giving good information and the truth or do you only give the truth as YOU see it in YOUR fantasy world. lol You are the only person who mentioned herbs being a cure all.No one else did!!! What was it you wanted to do to herbalists again? boy! you got to get educated before you presume to know it all.Growing up would'nt hurt either. Do you really not see how you open mouth and insert foot everytime you post.I only do it once in awhile.Usually intentionally. Whose information is negetive? Only yours little boy thats all i see. Luckygal has more intelligence in her little finger than you'll ever have as do most people here.Have intelligence that is. Handbright, Thank you for the mouth remedy. I get sores from the dental soak for my teeth sometimes and i'll try it next year. Calundula i grow anyway.I know it tastes good has a peppery taste. I've used it in salads.

you could make mint oil, add equal amounts of mint leaves and oil into the food processor and chop fine, Use this in your cake recipes, brownies, breads, etc. mix it with other herbs and make a pesto, you can strain it and make it into a bread dipping oil. refrigerate any leftovers, it keeps almost forever. steep mint and other herbs in wine vinegar, do not boil. my favorite is orange mint, orange zest, thai hot peppers, and lemon thyme, with a bit of ginger root. add a bit of sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and concentrated orange juice and use it for a chicken maranade. mint is excellent with lamb. use it in a salad 3 tomatoes chopped 1 med onion chopped 1 bunch or large handfull of mint, chopped 5-8 green onions or scallions, thinly sliced juice of 2 lemons salt put all ingredients in a bowl and chill for an hour, serve with grilled chicken or fish Tomato soup with couscous 2 Tbs olive oil 1 onion chopped 1-2 carrots diced 14 oz can italian chopped tomatoes 6 garlic cloves chopped 6 1/4 cup veggie or chicken stock 1 1/2 cup couscous, or alphabet noodles 2-3 sprigs mint chopped 1/4 tsp ground cumin 1/4 bunch cilantro cayene pepper to taste salt and pepper cook the onion and carrots in oil of about 10 minutes until softened add the tomatoes, half the garlic, stock, couscous, mint, coriander and spices bring to boil add remaining garlic and simmer for 7- 10 minutes until couscous is just tender serve hot Chopped Veggie Salad 1 each red, green, and yellow bell pepper seeded, and diced 1 carrot diced 1 cucumber diced 6 tomatoes, diced, I prefer romas 3 garlic cloves chopped fine 3 green onions or scallions sliced thin 2 Tbs chopped cilantro 2 Tbs each chopped dill, parsley, and mint 1 hot pepper chopped fine 3-4 Tbs olive oil juice of 1 lemon salt and pepper to taste add all ingredients, toss, and serve chilled mint can also be added to any green salad

Mint Teas: Makes a gallon - use only glass containers, plastic leaves a funny after taste. I use those glass jugs that apple juice/cider is often sold in. Citris Mint Tea (this is my Mom's favorite and I got the recipe from her): In a large pan (eventually needs to comfortably hold a gallon of liquid), bring 5 cups water to boil. Turn off heat and add a bunch of mint(I use 10-20 sprigs of mint, various kinds, and depending how strong I want it). Add 10 pinches or teaspoons of loose black tea (again depending how strong you want the "tea" flavor). Cover and let steep for 2 (two) hours. In a sauce pan, bring 5 cups water to boil, reduce heat and add 2 cups sugar (I only use one cup, because I don't like my tea too sweet), one cup lemon juice, and one frozen 12oz can orange juice concentrate. Keep well stirred until well disolved/mixed. Cover, turn off heat and let sit 2 hours. after the two hour wait: Add the juice mixture to the tea mix. Add 8 cups cold water and stir/mix well. Remove mint sprigs w/ tongs. Strain mixture using a very fine strainer into 1 gallon jug and top off with cold water if needed. Shake jug and refrigerate. Serve cold, over ice. You may want shake jug prior to each serving. Apple-Cinnamon Mint Tea (This one I came up with by making substitutions to the above recipe, as I prefer apples to oranges) In large pot (again eventually will hold nearly a gallon of liquid) bring 5 cups water to boil. Turn off Heat Add 10-20 sprigs mint add 10 pinches-teaspoons loose black tea (to taste) Add 2-3 cinnamon sticks. Don't use powdered cinnamon, it doesn't dissolve, found this out the hard way. Cover and let steep 90 minutes. In a saucepan bring the following to near boiling, but don't let it boil. Mainly just want it hot enough to get the sugar to dissolve: 4 cups unfiltered apple juice (has a cloudy white color to it) 2 cups cranberry juice (to replace the lemon tartness of the earlier recipe and complements apple better than lemon) 1/4 (1 quarter) cup brown sugar Stir until dissolved/mixed cover and turn off heat, let sit 90 mins. I originally used frozen apple juice concentrate, but it ended up too syrupy/sticky for some reason - using the actual juice turned out much better. After the 90 min wait: Add juice mix to tea pot, turn on heat to get it all steaming again and stir well. Then cover and remove from heat for another 30-40 minutes. Add 8 Cups cold water and stir. remove mint and strain the mix into 1 gallon jug, top off with cold water if needed. Cap and shake jug, refrigerate and serve cold over ice.

When we were a farm family, my husband and I could go through a gallon of tea a day. My mom in law taught me the 'correct' method for making good iced tea when I was a newlywed. ;0) Boil water in a small pan. Remove from heat, pour in about a quarter cup of loose tea leaves (these days I use a couple of family sized tea bags) Allow to steep for 5-10 minutes. Longer seems to make the tea bitter. Pour the tea water through a strainer into a gallon jar 3/4 full of water. Rinse the tea leaves and pour that water into the jar as well. Add water to make a full gallon. Add sugar to taste. Serve over ice. I also love sun tea. Two family sized tea bags, a gallon jar of water, and three hours in the sun. Sweeten to taste and refridgerate.