The Wild Mint (Menta aquatica)
is the commonest of the mints growing into one to two feet wide masses
in wet places. Distinguished by its down foliage and whorls of lilac
flowers, the scent is strong and unpleasant having an odor of
pennyroyal.
Corsican Mint (M. Requienni) is
a tiny-leafed mint with a strong menthol aroma. Its lavender flowers
are barely visible and its leaves are so tiny you almost need tweezers
to pick them. Minute and mossy, it grows only one inch high and does
best in shady, well-drained soil that is shielded from drying winds.
Not recommended for spots getting full sun, it does best as a
ground-cover for plants in containers or pots.
As far as the uses of mint, peppermint
is most frequently the mint used medicinally. The chief constituent,
Menthol, is used in medicine to relieve the pain of rheumatism,
neuralgia, throat affections and toothaches. It acts as a local
anesthetic, vascular stimulant and disinfectant. Peppermint is good
for inducing perspiration and is also used for palpitations of the
heart. Peppermint helps to relieve congestion in any part of the body,
whether it is a headache, a cold, or bronchitis. Only the leaves and
tops should be infused as a tea as the stems are bitter tasting.
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DID YOU KNOW?
-In Mexico and the Southwest,
spearmint is known as yerba buena.
-Mints symbolize cheerfulness.
-All the mints yield fragrant oils
by distillation.
-Mints were cultivated in the
Convent gardens of the ninth century.
-Romans crowned themselves with
Peppermint at their feasts and adorned their tables with its
sprays.
-The oldest existing Peppermint
district is in the neighborhood of Mitcham, in Surrey, where its
cultivation from a commercial point of view dates from about
1750.
-Peppermint is a sterile hybrid and
does not produce seed.
-Dried mint in drawers may repel
moths and cockroaches. |
Spearmint is the mint used for making
mint sauce or mint jelly (and Mint Juleps.) Add to cooked peas; new
baby potatoes are more digestible with chopped mint added. Mint brings
out the flavor of tomatoes and whole mint leaves in green salads are
delicious. A strong decoction of Spearmint is said to cure chapped
hands. And be sure to follow Adela Simmons advise to: “...hang bunches
of mint from open doors or archways...mint tied to screen doors send
cool odors throughout the house.”
Fresh tips of most mints can be used
in salads; harvesting the tips will encourage bushier growth of your
plants. Harvesting of the whole plant should begin just as they break
into bloom. Cut the stalk just above the ground and hang upside-down
to dry where air circulation is good and there is no direct sunlight.
To speed up the drying process (which is usually necessary in my area
of high humidity,) stip the leaves from the stems and spread on window
screens or in shallow cardboard trays. Place out of direct sunlight.
When the leaves are crisp, store in airtight containers, preferably
glass. If spearmint is being harvested for medicinal purposes, the
shoots should be gathered in August to obtain the highest levels of
the volatile oil.
Cross-pollination and self-sowing can
give mint enthusiasts some unusual specimens that can prove difficult
to label. Madalene Hill in Southern Herb Growing says there are some
600 varieties of this large genus of plants.
