Mint Extract

Make homemade mint extract in just days, not months, using fresh mint and high-proof alcohol.

You’re going to love this homemade mint extract recipe. It’s a quick and easy process that results in BIG flavor! If you've ever tried making mint extract before and ended up with a dark, murky bottle that smelled a little… off? You're not alone.

I’ve got a few tips and tricks to help keep your extract looking and tasting fresh and bright. PLUS I’ll include a free printable label to keep your cupboard looking great and gifted extracts feeling extra luxurious.

Instead of a long vodka steep that can lead to browning and dull flavor, this recipe uses short infusion cycles and fresh leaf rotation to create a bright green, clean-tasting extract packed with real mint flavor.

This mint extract recipe is dedicated to fresh and bright.

Why Does Homemade Mint Extract Turn Brown? (And How To Prevent It)

Homemade mint extract often turns dark brown and develops an off, swampy smell after a few weeks, and it's one of the most common frustrations with DIY extracts.

The problem is chlorophyll oxidation.

When fresh mint leaves sit in low-proof alcohol (like standard 80-proof vodka) for weeks or months, the plant material slowly breaks down. As it degrades, chlorophyll oxidizes, the same process that turns cut herbs brown in the fridge, and the extract loses its fresh flavor and vibrant color.

This method avoids that entirely by changing three key variables:

• High-proof alcohol (Everclear) extracts flavor quickly and limits water dilution from fresh leaves
• Short infusion cycles (2-3 days) prevent the leaves from breaking down
• Keeping leaves fully submerged (using a fermentation weight) reduces oxygen exposure

Instead of one long steep, you'll strain and replace the mint multiple times, building strong flavor while keeping the extract bright green and clean-tasting.

Unlike traditional vodka methods that take 4-6 weeks and often turn brown, this process produces a usable extract in under a week!

What alcohol is best for mint extract?

The best alcohol for mint extract is high-proof neutral alcohol.

While some recipes recommend vodka or rum, these lower-proof options extract flavor more slowly and increase the risk of chlorophyll breakdown, which leads to brown, muddy-tasting extract.

High-proof alcohol extracts more flavor, faster, resulting in a cleaner, brighter mint extract. The alcohol taste is negligible once used in baking or cooking.

In some regions, including parts of Canada, very high-proof alcohol like Everclear may be harder to find. Look for 151 proof rum or high proof vodka. The higher the proof, the better your results.

Key Ingredients

Fresh Mint Leaves: If you don’t have fresh mint growing in the backyard, you can check the farmers market for the freshest possible version. If all else fails, you can use a bundle of mint from your grocery store. The fresher the better as the volatile oils in the mint leaves responsible for flavor do evaporate during storage.

Alcohol: I recommend high-proof grain alcohol for this recipe because we are using fresh leaves. I use Everclear with 90% ABV (180 proof) because I find it doesn’t have any overpowering tastes (beyond the alcohol burn!!). High proof alcohols work better with leafy herbs with lots of moisture in them, like mint – starting with a higher ABV keeps the alcohol concentration high enough, even after dilution from the fresh mint, to extract flavor quickly and prevent spoilage or browning.

If you don’t have access to Everclear, you can use high proof vodka or rum. Be sure to choose a quality brand, to ensure that off flavors don’t present in your extract. Many people recommend the cheapest bottle you can find, and I disagree. Quality inputs equals quality outputs!

How To Make Mint Extract

Prepare Mint:

Muddle:

3. Step 3: Pick all the leaves from the stems. Collecting about 1 packed cup of leaves.

4. Step 4: In order to release as many of the volatile oils as possible, we need to muddle the leaves and bruise the cells. Some people chop their mint leaves, others crush in their hand, I personally like to give rub them back and forth between my hands. However you choose to do it will work!

Fill Jars:

5. Step 5: Transfer the muddled mint leaves to the prepared canning jars.

6. Step 6: Pour Everclear over the mint leaves, ensuring they are covered.

7. Step 7: I like to toss a Pickle Pebble over my leaves to make sure they stay down in the liquid. This helps to stop oxidization of the organic matter, which in turn helps to prevent murky brown extracts!

8. Step 8: Cover the jar with the lid and set somewhere that you’ll see at least daily – I keep mine by the coffee pot – so you can give it a swirl a couple of times a day for the next 2-3 days.

Strain And Replace:

9. Step 9: After 2-3 days, strain the mint leaves out of the alcohol using a cheesecloth or fine mesh sieve.

10. Step 10: Repeat the process of picking and muddling 1 cup of packed mint leaves.

11. Step 11: Add the fresh, muddled leaves to the jar, then add back the strained alcohol and top with your fermentation weight.

12. Step 12: Cover the jar with the lid, give it a swirl a couple of times a day for the next 2-3 days before repeating the strain and replace process at least once more.

Strain And Store:

13. Step 13: After 2 more days, strain extract to remove the mint leaves out of the alcohol using a cheesecloth or fine mesh sieve.
    Meanwhile, wash your airtight storage container and lid. Dry well.

14. Step 14: Transfer mint extract to cleaned storage container and store. I store my bulk mint extract in a pint sized mason jar at the back of the spice cupboard, and every day mint extract in a frosted glass dropper bottle.

Homemade Mint Extract FAQs

Harvesting Fresh Mint

If you’re like me and have 4-5 different kinds of mint scattered around your garden, you’re in luck, this is a super easy process.

Aim to harvest your mint before it flowers, if possible. I have found my spearmint and peppermint always flower earlier than my chocolate mint, so I usually end up making chocolate mint extracts in the fall. Harvesting can be done after flowering, but I just find that once the plant starts putting a ton of energy into the flowers, it stops putting as much energy into the leaves and the flavor can suffer.

The best time of day to harvest is in the morning, usually after the dew has dried off the leaves but before the sun’s intense heat starts to evaporate off the volatile oils in the leaves, sapping their flavor. Either pinch off a few leaves from multiple growing stems if you’ve got bunches, or using sharp garden snips, nip the growing stem off about 1/3 of the way down, directly above a leaf node.

Types Of Mint

If you’re buying at a farmers market or the grocery store, you’ll likely be limited to spearmint or peppermint, but if you’re growing mint the world is your oyster!

Each variety of mint has it’s own quirks and flavor characteristics and may compliment different recipes differently. This is one benefit that homemade has over store bought extract.

Peppermint

Peppermint is the classic mint flavor you’re thinking of. It’s got more menthol, gives a cooling sensation, and can have a bit of a spicy quality to it. Peppermint can be differentiated from spearmint by using your senses; it has a spicier flavor, stronger mint scent, and the leaves are generally darker and less pointed.

Peppermint is most commonly used in sweet dishes and paired with chocolate. You cannot go wrong with peppermint!

Spearmint

Spearmint has less menthol than peppermint, by a large margin – 0.5% versus up to 40%. The leaves of a spearmint plant can be almost sweet tasting. Spearmint can be differentiated from peppermint by using your senses; it has a milder sweetish flavor, different scent – more like Wrigley’s gum, and the leaves are generally lighter green and quite pointed at the end.

Reach for spearmint when you’re making savory dishes. While it is delicious, it can be off-putting to eat mint brownies that remind you of toothpaste!

Chocolate Mint

Chocolate mint is a newer cultivar in the mint world, I have one variety called “chocolate mint” and another called “After Eight mint”. These mint plants are easily distinguished in the garden by their reddish-brown stems.

While there is no actual chocolate in the mint, the aroma is reminiscent of mint chocolates. Think Andes or After Eights. I LOVE my chocolate mint extract in chocolate recipes, like my sous vide chocolate ice cream!

Printable Labels

Handmade extracts are such a lovely Christmas gift for the foodie on your list, but if you’re making these for yourself, don’t let that stop you from labeling your jars!

I used my Munbyn thermal printer with 2″ round labels to make the labels as seen in these photos, but you could very easily use Avery labels and their templates to print on a regular printer.

Simply input your name in the boxes below and I’ll send the file right to your inbox so they are ready when you are!

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