There are many occasions when you would simply like a great green cocktail. It could be a St. Patrick’s Day or Earth Day party. There are a few green-colored liquors that make mixing up green drinks incredibly easy, like Midori or green creme de menthe. Creme de Menthe is a sweet minty liqueur with a fancy French name that translates to “Mint Cream”. Kind of strange, I know, as Creme de Menthe isn’t creamy and instead has a simple syrup as its base. Fresh ingredients are often your best option for creating green drinks. Homemade creme de menthe tastes and smells like fresh mint. It completely blows away the commercial stuff, and it’s totally simple to make. This makes the mixture pretty in a glass bottle for gift giving and helps add a green color to the drinks or recipes to which the Creme de Menthe is added to give the message “Hey, this is minty!”. What a perfect time to whip up a batch for entertaining, gifts or just for your own enjoyment!

INGREDIENTS:

20 leaves Mint 500 ml pure grain alcohol or vodka 500 ml Water 400 gr Sugar 1 lemon zest

INSTRUCTIONS:

Wash the mint leaves in cold water and dry them completely with paper towels. Remove all the leaves from the stems and discard the stems.

Place the mint leaves in a large glass jar and crush them with a wooden spoon or muddler. Peel the zest from one lemon with a vegtable peeler and place them into a jar. Add vodka and stir well. Store the jar in a cool place away from sunlight for one month. Stir the mint leaves with a metal or wood spoon at least once a week. After at least six weeks of aging, the fresh mint liqueur is ready to be strained. Get an empty jar or a container and strain the liqueur with a fine mesh strainer. Note: After aging for a month, the mint leaves and the mint liqueur will change color to a brownish color.

Boil 500 ml of water in a pan. Add the sugar and stir constantly until all the sugar dissolves completely. Let the simple syrup cool down. Add the simple syrup to the jar of mint liqueur and stir. Store the jar back to its place and let it sit for 2 weeks. Stir the liqueur at least once a week. Get an empty 1 liter bottle. Wash it and dry it. Use a funnel to pour the liqueur into the bottle.

Homemade Liqueurs make classy gifts – but they take a month or two to make, which is why now is the perfect time to start in order to have them ready for the holidays. Package a cutely labeled bottle of mint Liqueur, along with some homemade LIMONCELLO LIQUEUR (now is the perfect time to start it too!) and you’ll have the perfect little gift basket.