Mint Sauce, Cape Style

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups mint leaves, ordinary garden mint, firmly packed in
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup sugar

Directions

1. 1

   Have a large enough, clean glass jar with lid ready. Rinse the mint, and shake or pat dry, but water on the leaves are fine.

2. 2

   Strip the leaves off the hard stems. Usually the soft tips can be used as is.

3. 3

   On a cutting board put bunches together, and slice thinly with a sharp knife.

4. 4

   Measure by packing tightly into the cup measure.

5. 5

   Alternately, snip finely with kitchen scissors.

6. 6

   Put the sliced mint in a jug with a pouring lip, and add the vinegar and sugar. Stir well.

7. 7

   Do not use the sharp spirit or other white vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is healthy and white vinegars are not.

8. 8

   I find that using sugar and vinegar on a 50-50 basis usually gives the right tang, but do taste and tweak! Do not worry about the amount of sugar: you use only about 1 dessertspoon of the sauce as a serving.

9. 9

   Ladle or pour the lot into a large enough bottle. The sugar will take time to dissolve, so can be kept on the kitchen counter and shaken a few times, before it goes to the fridge.

10. 10

    If the mint gets used up and there's quite a bit of the vinegar-sugar still left in the bottle, simply slice more fresh mint and add.

11. 11

    (The mint will lose its fresh green colour to an extent, which is normal).