Peppermint

This commonplace herb has tall shoots, long leaves, usually oval or lance shaped and flowers arranged in groups. It can be found growing wild throughout the UK although it is not really a native plant.

Cultivation

The problem with most mints is not growing them, but stopping them growing! A moist situation is preferable, but mint will succeed in almost any soil. To guarantee success, plant in the coolest and dampest situation you can manage. All mints are invasive, so you may like to plant in a bucket, tub or trough to stop it travelling across your garden like an express train, taking over the flower borders as it goes! Commercially, virtually the entire world supply of peppermint is raised in the USA – and not a lot of people know that!

Parts used

Dried leaves, or the whole plant except the roots for household purposes, and the oil is distilled for culinary and medicinal purposes.

Uses

Peppermint has a large natural menthol component which can be extracted as an essential oil. Because it has stimulating, stomachic and carminative properties, it is valuable in certain forms of stomach upset, mostly flatulence and colic. It can also help sudden stomach pains and cramp in the abdomen and is used extensively to treat diarrhoea. Oil of Peppermint allays sickness and nausea, and is much used to disguise the taste of other, less palatable drugs.

Peppermint is used for tea, and to flavour desserts and drinks, but other mints - with a sweeter flavour - are often preferred for dessert cooking. The spicier and more pungent tasting peppermint has traditionally been used to add savour to savoury dishes such as cucumber salad and Thai dumplings.

Mint photograph by Trilochan from flickr under a creative commons attribution licence.

 

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