Mint in Idaho

 It’s kinda’ funny how if you don’t know something or it isn’t intuitively obvious, it can be very enlightening to know how things are done. A couple of people in Idaho, and this includes some producers, have asked me about mint. It’s amazing but true. Idaho produces 25% of all the mint grown in the U.S. That’s because Idaho has a perfect climate for this crop in the summer…arid and hot. But those of you who are not in the mint growing business might be interested in knowing what the mint producers do to process they’re product for market. Here’s Robert McKellip, President of the Idaho Mint Growers Association: “The producers have mint stills and that’s raised in the fields and then taken to the distilleries to be distilled and that oil is packaged in 55 gallon barrels and sold in that form to our buyers and then they repackage it depending on how they need it. Then they make up the orders by mixing it or whatever for the end users.” Like candy and gum makers for instance…or breath mint manufacturers. “My guess is that there’s no such thing as a mint grower with bad breath. (laughter) Probably not.”