Saturday was Derby Day and I visited my folks to watch the race and as is tradition we consumed mint juleps. While I do have some good bar-tending skills (I'm not a lush), I had never made a mint julep until Saturday. Peppermint (or some random mint) grows in my parents backyard and I discovered that there are several recipes for mint juleps, and that even the experts in Louisville can't agree on which one is right - consulting the internet via the Blackberry was a necessity (yea technology). The first recipe I found involved muddling the mint leaves with powdered sugar in a tumbler and pouring the bourbon over it (which is how I always had them on Derby Day in Montana). However that seemed like a lot of work - especially considering that I didn't have anything to "muddle" it with. The next recipe I found involved making a simple syrup and essentially infusing the mint into it, then adding to bourbon & ice. Easy. Simple. Perfect.
Except we didn't have sugar. Off to the local Kroger's we went to find superfine (aka "bar") sugar - which they didn't have (at least not the store we were at). Having to compromise on regular sugar was a bit of a downer but I accepted and moved on - nothing would stand in the way of Derby Day Juleps. Upon getting home I followed this recipe allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mint-Juleps/Detail.aspx.
Mint Juleps
2 C water
2 C white sugar
1/2 C roughly chopped fresh mint leaves
32 oz Kentucky bourbon
8 sprigs fresh mint leaves for garnish
Directions:
Simple Syrup: Combine water, sugar, and chopped mint leaves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Shut off burner and remove from heat, allowing syrup to cool for approximately 1 hour. Pour syrup through strainer to remove mint leaves.
Julep time: Fill eight cups or frozen goblets with crushed ice and pour 4 ounces of bourbon and 1/4 cup mint syrup in each. Top each cup with a mint sprig and a straw. Trim straws to just barely protrude from the top of the cups. Traditionally juleps are served on a silver platter.
Delish.
Now since there are only 3 of us we did not consume the entirety of this recipe - as it's scaled for 8 people. However I took the remainder of the simple syrup and added it to iced tea, finding it gives a little minty kick to sweet tea. As it is May and we had a very rainy April in the Ohio Valley - I suspect that our mint was not strong or potent enough, so I will be redoing this simple syrup later in the year once we have mature mint. As a side note I'm also growing 3 varieties of mint in my soon to be herb garden and will try out each of them in this recipe.
Except we didn't have sugar. Off to the local Kroger's we went to find superfine (aka "bar") sugar - which they didn't have (at least not the store we were at). Having to compromise on regular sugar was a bit of a downer but I accepted and moved on - nothing would stand in the way of Derby Day Juleps. Upon getting home I followed this recipe allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mint-Juleps/Detail.aspx.
Mint Juleps
2 C water
2 C white sugar
1/2 C roughly chopped fresh mint leaves
32 oz Kentucky bourbon
8 sprigs fresh mint leaves for garnish
Directions:
Simple Syrup: Combine water, sugar, and chopped mint leaves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Shut off burner and remove from heat, allowing syrup to cool for approximately 1 hour. Pour syrup through strainer to remove mint leaves.
Julep time: Fill eight cups or frozen goblets with crushed ice and pour 4 ounces of bourbon and 1/4 cup mint syrup in each. Top each cup with a mint sprig and a straw. Trim straws to just barely protrude from the top of the cups. Traditionally juleps are served on a silver platter.
Delish.
Now since there are only 3 of us we did not consume the entirety of this recipe - as it's scaled for 8 people. However I took the remainder of the simple syrup and added it to iced tea, finding it gives a little minty kick to sweet tea. As it is May and we had a very rainy April in the Ohio Valley - I suspect that our mint was not strong or potent enough, so I will be redoing this simple syrup later in the year once we have mature mint. As a side note I'm also growing 3 varieties of mint in my soon to be herb garden and will try out each of them in this recipe.
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