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Lime and mint combine in an easy tea bread

Recipe: Zest and herb combination also works in muffins

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED DEC 3, 2023

Lime-mint bread is spectacular with coffee or tea. The mint sprig on the plate is from a lime mint; it also makes excellent tea itself. Kathy Morrison

This is an off year for my orange tree, but my lime tree has made up for the citrus gap. The fruit is ripening quickly, so I'm trying to use it up. (Can't give it away, unfortunately, thanks to the Oriental fruit fly quarantine.)

I hit on putting lime and mint together in a quick bread, and found an easy Betty Crocker recipe to adapt. I used a mint actually called lime mint, but just about any mint would work -- spearmint probably better than peppermint. Sub lemon for the lime if you want, or try 1 teaspoon orange zest in place of half the lime zest.

I baked my tea bread in two disposable aluminum pans, because I planned to take it to a potluck. The two smaller loaves take less time to bake and are easier to cut for serving. But use whatever good bread pan you have available.

This recipe also makes spectacular muffins, baked for about 20-25 minutes.

Lime-mint tea bread

Serves 16

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar, organic if possible

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup neutral vegetable oil

2 teaspoons grated lime zest, from 1 large or 2 small limes

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided

Handful of fresh mint leaves, finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon granulated or confectioners' sugar, for brushing

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 9-by-5-inch bread pan or two small disposable pans.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl or large measuring cup, combine the egg, buttermilk, oil, lime zest, 1 tablespoon of the juice, and all the mint.

Stir the liquid mixture into the flour mixture until moistened. Some lumps may be visible, but that's OK -- quick bread should not be overmixed.

Bake until the top starts to brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes for a standard loaf pan, 40-45 minutes for the smaller pans.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of juice with the remaining granulated sugar or the confectioner's sugar, whichever you're using. (It will be a thin mixture, not like cake glaze.) When the bread comes out of the oven, brush the mixture over the top. Let cool 10 minutes on a rack, then remove from pan(s) and allow to cool thoroughly before cutting and serving.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

lime citrus mint recipe recipes baking farm to fork Sacramento gardening citrus trees backyard produce orchard fruit

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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