Thora’s Mint Sekanjabin

I use apple cider vinegar.  I don't like using distilled vinegar because I don't like the anonymous character of it; the resulting syrup kind of reminds me of modern soda.  Vinegars with their own flavor make a more 
interesting drink.  I've used various flavored ones but prefer apple cider because, I tell myself, it's what Thora would have used if she had that much sugar to waste making drink syrup. ;>  And I like the idea of the trace minerals and suchlike in a natural undistilled vinegar.  Besides, I like the taste.

I also use less sugar than most people I know, and more mint.  I also steep it a long time, preferably overnight. (That helps maximize the refrigerant effect of the mint as well as the flavor.)  Here are my proportions.

         2/3 cup cider vinegar
         1-1/3 cup water
         2 cups sugar
         as much fresh mint as the pot will hold, or 7 spearmint teabags, whichever is handy.

I tint the resulting syrup with green and dilute it with water, one part syrup to 11 parts water.  The resulting beverage is faintly greenish, pleasantly sweetish, but not heavy at all.  At Pennsic my daughter prefers it to our next-door neighbor Cariadoc's sekanjabin because she thinks his is too sweet.