Pineapple mint (sterile twig)
There are, however, yet other mint cultivars whose fragrance bears no
similarity with traditional mint aroma:
Orange mint (M. citrata, also called
Eau de Cologne mint,
similar to the bergamot orange used to
flavour Earl Grey tea),
apple mint (M. rotundifolia =
M. longifolia ×ばつ M. suaveolens,
very mild, slightly minty, not reminiscent to apples),
ginger mint (M. gentilis =
M. arvensis ×ばつ M. spicata,
neither minty nor ginger-like at all) and
pineapple mint (M. suaveolens, weakly pineapple-like)
These plants are more used as tea herbs than for culinary
purposes; still, gifted cooks may find effective applications.
Main constituents
The essential oil of peppermint (up to 2.5% in the dried leaves) is mostly made
up from menthol (ca. 50%), menthone (10 to 30%), menthyl esters (up to 10%) and
further monoterpene derivatives (pulegone, piperitone, menthofurane). Traces of
jasmone (0.1%) improve the oil’s quality remarkably.
Menthol and menthyl acetate are responsible for the pungent and refreshing
odour; they are mostly found in older leaves and are preferentially formed
during long daily sunlight periods. On the other hand, the ketones menthone and
pulegone (and menthofurane) have a less delightful fragrance; they appear to
higher fraction in young leaves and their formation is preferred during short
days.
Mentha arvensis var. piperascens: Japanese field mint
Japanese mint
Mentha suaveolens: Pineapple mint with flowers
Pineapple mint with flowers
The world’s most important source of menthol is, however, not peppermint but
field mint. Field mint is the only mint species that became naturalized in
tropical Asia; there are many different cultivars, some of which are grown
for direct consumption, others for the distillation of essential oil. The
Japanese variety of field mint (Mentha arvensis var. piperascens Malinv. ex Holmes), now grown in many
Asian countries, may contain
up to 5% of essential oil in its tips; more common, however, are 1 to 2%.
Chief component of the oil is menthol (50 to 70%, in rare cases up to 90%).
After parts of the menthol have been removed from the oil, the oil is
marketed as (dementholized, rectified) Japanese peppermint oil
; it typically
contains 30 to 45% menthol,
17 to 35% menthone, 5 to 13% menthyl acetate, 2 to 5% limonene and 2.5 to
4% neomenthol. Other terpenes occur but in traces (piperitone, pulegone,
β-caryophyllene, β-caryophyllene-epoxide,
α-pinene, β-pinene, germacrene D,
1,8-cineol, linalool, menthofurane, camphene). A trace component characteristic
for this species and missing in other mints is β-hexenyl phenylacetate.
Mentha suaveolens: Pineapple mint with flowers
Pineapple mint with flowers
The oil of this so-called Japanese peppermint
is often attributed with an
incredible wealth of useful medical properties; it is even more incredible,
though, that it never failed to help me in a number of different inconvenient conditions
like nausea, mild stomach upset or cold.
The menthol obtained as a by-product in the rectification of Japanese peppermint
oil is used for medical products and for chewing gum. A comparatively
small fraction goes in the production of menthol-flavoured cigarettes,
which have been quite popular in Western Europe a few decades ago. See
tonka bean for more on flavoured tobacco
products.
Mentha pulegium: Pennyroyal plant with flowers
Pennyroyal (
M. pulegium) was a popular culinary herb in ancient Rome (see also
silphion)
Mentha spicata: Moroccan grren mint (sterile plant)
Moroccan green mint (sterile plant)
Whenever highly concentrated menthol is used, one must consider that menthol
is toxic to infants; there are rumors that it can induce apnoea.
Other mints may contain rather different constituents:
Mentha pulegium (pennyroyal) contains 80% pulegone,
and M. crispa (crispate mint) contains 50% carvone.
Another famed cultivar, spearmint, owes its phantastic aroma to carvone,
limonene, dihydrocarvone, menthone, pulegone, 1,8-cineol and β-pinene.
Origin
Peppermint is a (usually sterile) hybrid from water mint (M.
aquatica) and spearmint (M. spicata). It is found
sometimes wild in Central and Southern Europe, but was probably first put to
human use in England, whence its cultivation spread to the European continent
and Africa; today, Northern Africa is a main cultivation area.
Other mint species are indigenous to Europe and Asia, and some are used since
millennia. Cultivars in tropical Asia always derive from field mint and are,
therefore, botanically not closely related to European peppermint, although
they come close to peppermint in their culinary value. Mints from Western
and Central Asia, however, are comparable not to peppermint but to horsemint
and applemint.
All species of genus Mentha are aromatic, although not in all
of them the aroma is that pure than in peppermint. As a rule of thumb, any mint
can be substituted by peppermint, but not always vice versa.
Mentha spicata var. crispa: Crispate mint
Curly mint,
M. spicata var. crispa
Mentha longifolia: Horsemint
Flowering horsemint,
M. longifolia
Mentha aquatica: Watermint
Water mint,
M. aquatica
Etymology
The names for mint are fairly uniform in most European languages:
German Minze, Danish and Norwegian mynte,
Dutch munt, Basque menda,
Estonian münt, Finnish minttu,
Czech máta, Polish mięta,
Russian myata [мята],
Lithuanian mėta, Latvian mētra,
French menthe and Italian menta.
All these names derive from Latin mentha mint
.
The Latin name mentha itself was borrowed from Greek
minthe [μίνθη],
whose origin is, however, unknown. It is already found in Mycenaean, the
earliest recorded version of Greek, as mintha [𐀖𐀲].
Mentha longifolia: Horsemint
Flowering horsemint,
M. longifolia
The English homonym meaning place where coins are produced
or the corresponding verb are not at all related
to the name of the plants; rather, they derive (together with the more familiar money) from the eponymous
Latin noun moneta, itself being derived from an epithet of the goddess Juno, in whose temple
coins were minted.
The pepper
-element in peppermint, found in many other languages
and also in the botanical species epithet, piperita, refers to
the peppery and pungent taste of this
specific mint type. See also long pepper for
the etymology of pepper
.
Mentha aquatica: Watermint
Water mint,
M. aquatica
In the New Testament, the mint is called hedyosmon [ἡδύοσμον]
(see also pomegranate). This compound means the
sweet smelling one
: hedys [ἡδύς] sweet, pleasant
(see licorice for more information) and
osme [ὀσμή] smell
,
related to English odour, cf. Latin olere
to smell
. In modern languages, names derived thence have the meaning
green mint, spearmint
, not peppermint
, e. g.,
Greek diosmos [δυόσμος]
and Bulgarian giozum or dzhodzhen [джоджен].
In Semitic tongues, closely similar names for mint may be observed:
Arabic an-na'na' [النعناع],
Aramaic nanea [ܢܢܥܐ]
Hebrew nana [נענע],
Maltese nagħniegħ and
Tigrinya naenae [ናዕናዕ];
there are also similar forms in languages outside the Afro-Asiatic family,
e. g., Turkish nane, Albanian nenexhiku,
Pashto nauna and
Farsi nana [نعناع].
I don’t know about the exact origin of that group of words, yet it is of ancient origin
as testified by Akkadian nīnū.
Selected Links
Indian Spices: Spearmint (indianetzone.com)
Indian Spices: Mint (indianetzone.com)
Indian Spices: Peppermint (indianetzone.com)
Ilkas und Ullis Kochecke: Minze (rezkonv.de via archive.org)
A Pinch of Mint (www.apinchof.com)
The Epicentre: Mint
Chinese Herb Database: Mint
Nature One Health: Pennyroyal
Nature One Health: Mints
Pflanzen des Capitulare de Villis: Poleiminze (biozac.de)
Pflanzen des Capitulare de Villis: Roßminze (biozac.de)
Pflanzen des Capitulare de Villis: Wasserminze (biozac.de)
Pflanzen des Capitulare de Villis: Grüne Minze (biozac.de)
Saskatchewan Herb and Spice Association: Spearmint
Saskatchewan Herb and Spice Association: Peppermint
Saskatchewan Herb and Spice Association: Horsemint
chemikalienlexikon.de: Menthon
chemikalienlexikon.de: Menthol
Crop and Food Research: Mints (crop.cri.nz via archive.org)
Alles over Pepermunt (natuurlijkerwijs.com)
Herbs by Linda Gilbert: Mint
Desirable Herb and Spice Varieties: Mint
Minzen (Herrmann Rachinger)
Rain Tree: Peppermint
Recipe: Shahjahani Biriyani [शाह जहानी बिरयानी] (soulkurry.com)
Rezept: Kärntner Kasnudeln (www.zdf.de)
Rezept: Kärntner Kasnudeln (www.chefkoch.de)
Recipe: Carinthian Ravioli (travel.discovery.com)
Recipe: Laab gai [ลาบไก่] (Thai chicken salad) (recipezaar.com)
Recipe: Lab kai [ลาบไก่] (Thai chicken salad) (bigpond.com via archive.org)
Recipe: Larb muh [ลาบหมู] (Thai pork salad) (low-carb-recipes.ws)
Mentha carinthiaca/austriaca: Carinthian mint
Carinthian mint
Mentha piperita: Peppermint flower
Peppermint flower (Mitcham type)
Peppermint and its relatives are mostly known as a medicine
and popular herbs for infusions; for example, an infusion of green mint is
the
national beverage
in Morocco and Tunisia.
British breeds of green mint are known as spearmint. They are very popular
for flavouring cold soups, beverages and meats; together with
thyme, spearmint is the most important culinary
herb in Britain. Spearmint is the mint
to use for the famous and often dreaded (by non-Englishmen) peppermint
sauce served to boiled lamb. Today, most spearmint is actually used in the
chewing gum industry (doublemint
).
Peppermint originated in England, probably due to accidental hybridization.
The oldest cultivar known, Black Mitcham, is named after a town
near London; its leaves are dark due to anthocyanin pigments. Other
varieties of peppermint are free from anthocyanins and are known as
white peppermint
.
Mentha piperita: Peppermint flower
Peppermint flower (Mitcham type)
In Britain, as in the rest of Europe, true peppermint is used almost
exclusively for confectioneries and sweet liquors, where its cooling
and fresh pungency balances the sweetness of the sugar. For all such purposes,
the usage of pure essential oil is preferred in order to avoid the astringent
to bitter notes of the peppermint leaves. The freshness of peppermint goes
extremely well with chocolate flavour. Peppermint ice cream is especially
delightful on a hot summer day, making use of the cooling properties of
menthol (see vanilla).
Peppermint is much cultivated in many countries
of Europe, Western and Central Asia for the production of menthol, which
is needed in pharmaceutical preparations. In most of these countries,
peppermint entered local cuisine, replacing in part the native mints.
Mentha austriaca/carinthiaca: Carinthian mint
Carinthian mint, close-up to flowers
Fresh mint is essential to flavour a celebrated specialty of Carinthia,
Austria’s most Southern region bordering Italy, whence the art of noodle-making
was imported. Kärntner Kasnudeln (meaning loosely
Carinthian cheese-stuffed dumplings or Carinthian cheese-pasta)
are basically large ravioli-type noodles stuffed with a
mixture of cottage cheese, boiled potatoes and fresh herbs. The herb mixture
contains chervil and a special Carinthian mint
variety with caraway scent which somewhat remembers
spearmint. Boiled or steamed
Kasnudeln are served with a few
drops of molten butter as a snack between meals, or for dinner.
Mentha pulegium: Pennyroyal mint
Pennyroyal
Fresh mint leaves are often used in Turkish cooking together with yoghurt
(see garlic for an example); similar concoctions
are in use in Lebanon and Israel (see parsley for
the Lebanese salad tabbouleh). All over Western Asia, grilled
lamb (kabab [كباب]) may be flavoured with mint, and dried mint is
part of the Georgian spice mixture khmeli-suneli (see blue fenugreek). In the Caucasus countries,
both regular mint and the related pennyroyal (M. pulegium) are used as garnish, which is curious,
because pennyroyal, though having been an main herb in Classical Roman cooking (see also silphion),
is not used in any other contemporary cuisine.
Mentha piperita: Indian mint podina
Mint plant in India
Iranian cuisine knows several highly sophisticated recipes employing mint, for example ghormeh [قرمه]
(see feugreek), which is one of the fe examples where dried mint may be used.
Some of these minty reciped were later transferred to Northern India where they were further developed, e. g.,
moghul-style biriyani (see
saffron). Unlike the Western Asian foods containing
mint, the Persian recipes can, at least for my taste, also be prepared with
true peppermint.
Mentha citrata: Eau-de-Cologne Mint
Orange mint (Eau de Cologne mint)
In the Far East, mint is also well known. It is chiefly of importance in the
countries of peninsular South East Asia, less so in Indonesia and China.
In Thailand, local mint varieties are milder than European peppermint,
standing somewhere in between true peppermint and spearmint. Together with
other herbs, mainly basil and
coriander (cilantro),
mint is used in the hot Thai meat salad laab or
larb [ลาบ], which originates
from North Eastern Thailand (Isan [อีสาน]).
It is commonly prepared from chicken (then known as
laab gai [ลาบไก่])
and served with steamed glutinous rice as typical for the Isan region. Coarsely
ground chicken meat is dressed with typical Thai flavourings (fish sauce,
lime juice, shallots),
a liberal amount of dried red chiles, raw
vegetables and fresh greens, including coriander and mint leaves. Dried mint
is not suitable for Thai recipes.
Mentha citrata: Eau-de-Cologne Mint
Orange mint (Eau de Cologne mint)
Mentha piperita: Indian mint podina
Mint plant in India
Mint is also highly popular in Vietnam, where fresh aromatic leaves are, in any
case, essential for the national character of the food and thus served as a
garnish to nearly every Vietnamese dish, particularly in the South. The most
popular herbs (besides some that are rarely available in the West) for this
purpose are coriander,
Vietnamese coriander (also known as
Vietnamese mint
, which is confusing)
long coriander, basil
and mint. More often, a mild, spearmint- or
caraway-scented mint variety
(rau hung lui [rau húng lủi]) is preferred to the more pungent,
menthol-containing type (rau hung cay [rau húng cây]); the former is often
served with North Vietnamese, Hanoi-type noodle soup (pho bo [phở bò],
see Vietnamese cinnamon). See also
Vietnamese coriander for further details.
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