Sugar-Free Peppermint Tea from Scratch

Fresh Picked Mint (plant)

Refreshing Homemade Fresh Mint Tea Recipe, No Sugar

Fresh mint sprigs are the key to brewing your own homemade fresh mint tea from scratch. I just picked a handful of tea-mint (shown in picture above) from our yard to make yet another batch of a favorite summer cool-down drink. The temperature has been approaching 90-degrees here the past few days, and I can go through about a gallon of iced mint tea every 2 or 3 days.

After picking the mint, fill a 5 or 6-quart pot with roughly a gallon of water. I first rinse off the mint leaves and sprigs a bit (lately, a requirement since there is so much tree-pollen on everything outside), and then toss them into the pot (the whole sprigs — I don't waste time plucking leaves from the plant sprigs).

I then bring the water and mint to a boil, and allow the mint to remain at a light boil for about 5 minutes, stirring the mint leaves every so often. I do this to release the mint flavor, but also to kill any tiny little bugs or microbes that may be left on the mint after I've rinsed it. Next, I turn off the heat, and allow the mint to steep another 10 minutes. After that, I then remove the sprigs from the water using a strainer-spoon and discard them (this is also why I leave the sprigs intact — removing them from the water is so easy compared to removing a whole bunch of individual leaves).

Xylitol : A sugar-free gluten-free sweetener

While it is still warm, the tea can be sweetened. I have lately been experimenting with sugar-free recipes (in addition to gluten-free recipes), and purchased some Xylitol (bag of it shown below). Xylitol is a sweetener used in things like Trident gum.



The Xylitol is gluten-free (of course, or I wouldn't use it), and the Xylitol dissolves readily in liquids just like sugar. I find it tastes quite similar to sugar also. And, it's always nice to know that when I am drinking so much of this sweetened mint tea, that I am not subject to tooth-decay: in fact, Xylitol has been shown to be a proven cavity fighter! If that wasn't good enough, it has zero net carbs, and is safe for use by diabetics and hypoglycemics (it has a Glycemic Index of only 7 - which is super low).  In a way, you can consider it an alternative to things like Splenda or perhaps even Stevia.

Finally, after my tea is sweetened to my liking, I simply let it cool down to close to room temperature and then funnel it into a gallon water-jug and refrigerate for future use.

I still have not baked any gluten-free desserts with the Xylitol, but I hope to soon. Xylitol can't be used to replace sugar in baked goods that rise using yeast (since, it will not "feed" the yeast properly), and it doesn't crystallize the same as sugar when heated, so you can't make hard candy from it. But, I think it has potential for other desserts where I can substitute part of the sugar. According to the label on the bag, it is recommended that you ramp up your Xylitol consumption gradually over a few weeks for proper (intestinal) tolerance adjustment. And, you can not feed it to your pets, since it can be toxic to them (note: this includes chewing gum sweetened with Xylitol — don't give it to your dog!)

If you have any interest in xylitol, I found mine xylitol online here: World Health Depot (just search for Xylitol, and you'll get a list of items including the granules I pictured above). I get Spry brand chewing gum from this same place (it's Xylitol sweetened too).

So, there you have it. Sugar-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free peppermint tea just in time for summer!
Enjoy.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.