My grandma taught me the following methods of keeping mint fresh, and I have been using them ever since. Hope it will inspire you on how to keep mint fresh!
First method: treat your mint like flowers
- Whenever you bring a new bunch of mint home, first remove the rubber band that binds it together.
- Tidy up the stems end by trimming off the leaves to create some rooms at every cut end. You can use up all the leaves when cooking, but if you can't use everything at once, you can learn new methods of preserving them. Refer to the second method.
- In a very tall container like a mug or jar, stick the stems of the mint and pour in enough water to make sure the cut ends are well covered.
- Keep them loosely covered in a plastic container and store the container in your refrigerator.
- Change the water once in every three days. Mint has the tendency to produce roots just like basils when you let it stand for long. This same method is also used for storing fresh parsley, scallion, and basil except you do not need to put the basil in your refrigerator. This way, you can store fresh herb for some weeks.
Second method: use a damp paper towel to wrap the mint leaves
- Keep the mint leaves wrapped in a damp paper towel. Gently wring the water out once you see the paper towel has become too wet.
- Keep the paper wrapped up in a plastic bag. But ensure the bag is big enough so it won't crush the mint leaves. Keep it sealed.
- Keep the plastic bag stored in your refrigerator.
- Mint can last for about two weeks when stored like this. It can also be used for preserving other types of herbs. I used this technique for storing cilantro as well.
That is my answer to how to keep mint fresh!