Ingredient: Mint
Category: Herbs, Spices & Seasoning
Season: All
Mint (Mentha) is a genus of about 25 species (and many hundreds of varieties of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae (Mint Family). Species within Mentha have a subcosmopolitan distribution across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and North America.
Several mint hybrids commonly occur .
Mints are aromatic , almost exclusively perennial, rarely annual, herbs.
The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, from simple oblong to lanceolate, often downy, and with a serrated margin. Leaf colors range from dark green and gray-green to purple, blue and sometimes pale yellow.
The flowers are produced in clusters ('verticils') on an erect spike , white to purple, the corolla two-lipped with four subequal lobes, the upper lobe usually the largest.
The fruit is a small dry capsule containing one to four seeds .
Species
This covers a selection of what are considered to be pure species of mints.
As with all classifications of plants, this list can go out of date at a moment's notice.
Listed here are accepted common names and species names:
Water mint, or Marsh mint (Mentha aquatica)
Corn Mint, Wild Mint, Japanese Peppermint, Field Mint (Mentha arvensis)
Asian Mint (Mentha asiatica)
Australian mint(Mentha australis)
Hart's Pennyroyal (Mentha cervina)
Bergamot mint (Mentha citrata)
Wrinkled-leaf mint(Mentha crispata)
Dahurian Thyme(Mentha dahurica)
Slender mint (Mentha diemenica)
Forest mint (Mentha laxiflora) |
Horse Mint (Mentha longifolia)
Large apple mint, foxtail mint, hairy mint, woolly mint, Cuban mint (Mentha nemorosa)
Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium)
Corsican mint (Mentha requienii)
Garden mint (Mentha sachalinensis)
Native Pennyroyal (Mentha satureioides)
Spearmint, Curly mint (Mentha spicata)
Apple mint, Pineapple mint (a variegated cultivar of Apple mint) (Mentha suaveolens)
Gray mint (Mentha vagans) |
Selected hybrids:
The mint family has a large grouping of recognized hybrids.
As with all classifications of plants, this list can go out of date at a moment's notice. Synonyms, along with cultivars and varieties where available, are included within the specific species.
Ginger Mint (Mentha × gracilis)
Peppermint (Mentha × piperita)
False Apple-mint ( Mentha × rotundifolia (M. longifolia × M. suaveolens))
Red Raripila Mint (Mentha × smithiana (M. aquatica × M. arvensis × M. spicata))
Apple-mint (Mentha × villosa (M. spicata × M. suaveolens; syn. M. cordifolia))
Sharp-toothed Mint (Mentha × villosonervata (M. longifolia × M. spicata)) |
Culinary uses
Mint jelly. Mint jelly is a traditional condiment served with lamb dishes
The leaf, fresh or dried, is the culinary source of mint.
Fresh mint is usually preferred over dried mint when storage of the mint is not a problem.
Mint leaves have a pleasant warm, fresh, aromatic, sweet flavour with a cool aftertaste. Mint leaves are used in teas, beverages, jellies, syrups, candies, and ice creams.
In Middle Eastern cuisine mint is used on lamb dishes. In British cuisine, mint sauce is popular with lamb.
Mint is a necessary ingredient in Touareg tea, a popular tea in northern African and Arab countries.
Alcoholic drinks sometimes feature flavour of mint, namely the Mint Julep and the Mojito. Crème de menthe is a mint-flavoured liqueur used in drinks such as the grasshopper.
Mint essential oil and menthol are extensively used as flavourings in breath fresheners, drinks, antiseptic mouth rinses, toothpaste, chewing gum, desserts, and candies; see mint (candy) and mint chocolate.
The substances that give the mints their characteristic aromas and flavours are menthol (the main aroma of Peppermint, and Japanese Peppermint) and pulegone (in Pennyroyal and Corsican Mint).
The compound primarily responsible for the aroma and flavour of spearmint is L-carvone.
Methyl salicylate, commonly called "oil of wintergreen", is often used as a mint flavouring for foods and candies due to its mint-like flavour.
Never use mint dried – it loses all its flavour and becomes very musty and lifeless. |