Because We Live Here - Harvesting and Distilling Mint

By Lance Waldren

Pioneer Press

Fort Jones , CA

530-468-5355

mailto:pioneerp@sisqtel.net

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Page E9

A few days ago I was driving from Tulelake back to my home in  Merrill.   I happened to be behind a Three M Mint Co. trailer which was filled with chopped peppermint going from the field to the distillery near the stateline.

It smelled so good I followed the trailer into the distillery where I thought I would try and learn a little about the mint industry.

I have always loved driving past the peppermint fields in the Klamath Basin . 

I walked in the spotless building and was almost knocked over by the overwhelming power of peppermint.  It only took a minute to get used to it. 

The first person I met was Steve Hart who was operating the stills.   Steve works for Basin Fertilizer but takes his vacation during the mint harvest to run the distillery.

Sitting on pallets were the silver 55 gallon drums full of oil waiting to be shipped out.

There are eight stills working away turning the chopped mint leaves into the valuable oil.

The first fact I learned was that the trailers used to transport the mint to the processing plant are  actually part of the distilling process.  The trailers are hooked to steam lines and the mint never leaves the trailer.   The steam passes through the mint and the oils fix themselves to the steam and is collected back at the stills.

The stills separate the oil from the water.

While talking with Hart I noticed a large sign on the wall which talked about food safety.   The plant is federally inspected by the USDA.

The sign reminded the workers that for every barrel of oil produced, it would in turn produce over 400,000 tubes of toothpaste, 5 million sticks of gum or over 20 million mint candies.

Hart told me where the mint field was being harvested and I drove there to watch that operation.  The fields had already been swathed and the plants allowed to dry a little.   A chopper was pulled behind a tractor and the mint was picked up, chopped and blown into the trailers.   Walking through the field the smell was amazing.

The time I spent at the Three M Mint Co. was well worth the stop.  I learned a little more about a crop raised in the basin and even my shoes now smell like peppermint.

The next time I wake up in the morning and brush my teeth with Colgate peppermint toothpaste, I will be reminded of another wonderful agricultural product produced in the Klamath Basin .

(Permission to post from the publisher.)