Honey Mints

 **This post contains affiliate links to products that will help you make this recipe. Read the affiliate disclosure to the right to learn more.**

Ever since I started the SCD 20 years ago, the main food that has been hard to figure out how to replace is breath mints, and along a similar line - gum. There have simply been no SCD-legal alternatives to be had, at least that I knew of. At one point near the time I started the diet, Burt's Bees made a legal peppermint breath drop solution that I used, but that was discontinued after a while.

So, imagine my excitement this past year when my sister told me about 100% pure essential oils from Young Living that were actually ingestible! She had been in customer service for several years with Young Living and mentioned that I should be able to have their Vitality line of oils since they contain nothing but essential oils that have either been pressed or distilled with no additives to expel the oils. I did my research, saw their Seed to Seal commitment to purity, and gave it a try! 

Not only have I been able to use the Vitality oils (the line of oils that are safe for ingesting) in my tea a drop at a time (Citrus Fresh and Thieves are my favorite for tea), but I also have tested several ways to find a great recipe for breath mints, cough drops, and lemon & orange oil candies...with great success! They've added such a nice dimension to the SCD that I wanted to share the recipes with you too! I'll be posting the recipes for Thieves Cough Drops and Orange and Lemon Candy separately but suffice to say for now that you can simply swap out the oils in this recipe to make those as well. You may want to change the number of drops of each type of essential oil to get your desired flavor and strength, but it's basically the same recipe with different oils. 

I also want you to make sure that you know to not use just any essential oils; not all essential oils are additive free and pressed without the aid of chemicals, or safe for ingesting. Young Living essential oils are 100% pure and there is a special line of Vitality oils which are safe for ingesting. I wouldn't trust another company because not all companies have essential oils suitable for ingesting due to the type of ingredients they use to expel their oils, dilution, additives, and other factors. I trust Young Living but also encourage you to research for yourself. Here's a good link to their Seed to Seal Guarantee. And here's another one about their quality commitment. You can also always contact Customer Support to inquire about their line of Vitality oils' purity for ingestion. I am also a Brand Partner with Young Living, so I would be happy to answer any questions you have or help you with your order. Feel free to email me at nomorecrohns @ Gmail.com. 

One of the things that I found most challenging about making this recipe was finding a way to bring the honey & apple cider vinegar mixture to a consistent temperature of 300-310 degrees F without the honey burning and still reaching the hard crack stage. We have to keep it at that temperature for 10-15 minutes, until it reaches the hard crack stage (unless we want chewy mints and candy).

What I finally discovered was that an electric skillet worked best for this. It heated the mixture up faster and kept it there while I stirred often to prevent the honey from burning. While you certainly can cook this in a regular pan, it will take longer to get the honey & vinegar to the hard crack stage, and you will need to adjust the heat and check the thermometer often. If you can find an electric skillet (my mother-in-law found this one at a thrift store!) your job will be easier! Amazon has one that you can see here: Electric Skillet.

I also discovered that my candy thermometer wasn't very reliable and was tricky to keep checking so I most recently used a bowl of cold water nearby to test the honey mixture in to check for when it was crunchy. Crunchy mints & candies are so much more satisfying to eat, and don't pull on our teeth and fillings when chewing! It was worth cooking it a little longer to make sure the mints reached that hard crack stage.

Alright, now to the fun part! Finally, a recipe for SCD breath mints! Drumroll please. . .
See pictures of the whole process below the recipe!
​           Honey Mints

Ingredients:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup honey
5-10 drops of either peppermint or spearmint Young Living essential oil, or 5 drops of each for 1/2 of the recipe to make a mixed batch. Adjust more or less oil to your taste.  (To make other flavors of honey candy, try Lemon or Orange essential oil! They taste amazing.)
Directions:

• Combine the apple cider vinegar and honey and boil to 300-310 degrees, being careful not to burn by stirring often and adjusting the heat as necessary.
• Boil for 10-15 minutes, until it reaches the hard crack stage and keep it there until a drop of the mixture cooled in cold water is crunchy. (The mixture will turn dark brown but that doesn't mean it is burning! Just keep stirring often and testing it out every couple of minutes until you are satisfied with the texture.)
• Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before adding the essential oils.  Either divide the mixture into two and add around 5 drops of peppermint to one half and about 5 drops of spearmint to one half, or add 5-10 drops of either oil to the whole mixture. (I loved both, but spearmint was my favorite because it was novel and reminded me of pre-SCD gum and mint flavor!) Stir well to combine.
• While carefully handling the hot mixture, spoon into silicone molds. 
• Allow the mints to cool completely at room temperature.
• Store in layers on waxed or parchment paper in an airtight container. Storing them in the refrigerator will make them a little firmer. You can also buy a lozenge container and keep some in your purse, bag, or pocket. They'll keep a long time!
• To clean your sticky pan, spoons, etc., simply pour boiling water on them right away and let them sit and cool. The honey comes right off with some warm water and soap. 

      Links to Products I Used (or similar) or that go well with this recipe:
(Larger) Silicone Candy Molds that I used, or smaller Silicone Candy Molds
Electric Skillet 
Young Living Peppermint Vitality Oil 
Young Living Spearmint Vitality Oil
Mint Tins for Purse, Bag, or Pocket

Young Living's complete line of vitality oils
       
​Now for some pictures of the process: 

Combine honey and apple cider vinegar in a pan or an electric skillet.

My mother-in-law found the skillet at a thrift store. It worked really well for candy, but a pan can work well too with some more fiddling with the heat and stirring often. See my link above to a different kind of electric skillet that could work well.

Bring the honey and apple cider vinegar to a boil of 300-310 degrees F, and hold it there, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes or until candy is crunchy.

To test the crunchiness, drop into a bowl of cold water periodically and let it thoroughly cool down for a minute. Then taste to test the crunchiness.

Be sure to stir often to prevent burning. Notice how dark the candy gets! That's okay as long as it's not burning. Just keep stirring, and check the consistency every couple of minutes.

After allowing to cool slightly, add the essential oil of your choice or split the mixture in half and add half of each.

For this batch, I split it in half and tried both oils. I really liked the flavor of spearmint for its novelty - I hadn't tasted it in 20+ years! Peppermint was also great. Yum!

Pour or spoon into silicone candy molds. These are larger so you could fill them halfway up, or use the link above to the smaller molds.

The mixture got VERY sticky near the end! I wondered how it would come off of the spoons, bowl, and pan.

Pouring boiling water over it all totally solved the stickiness problem!

I let it all sit in the sink until it cooled down, then washed with warm water and soap. It cleaned up great that way.

The mints were a bit messy, but the little extra pieces broke off pretty well after they had thoroughly cooled.

Super tasty and cute! I am so happy with them!

I stored them in an airtight container in the fridge, and have a few in a baggy in my purse. I think I'll look for a little lozenge tin to keep them in. (See link to tins above!) Finally - an SCD breath mint!! Yay!