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Plants with Purpose - In Mint Condition
WHEN I WAS LITTLE, my favourite job was to go out and “find the mint”, bring some back and chop it with sugar, using a sharp knife (no cotton-wool wrapping for kids in my family!), adding vinegar for mint sauce. As an introduction to herbs, plant recognition, and cookery, it wasn’t bad.
What I didn’t know till much later was that there are mints – and mints. Firstly, herbs called mints, which are not even in the Mentha genus: Calamint is not a mint – but has an intermediate flavour between mint and marjoram. Mountain Mints from North America are in the genus Pycnanthemum. Korean Mint is actually Agastache. Alecost has big minty leaves but is in the daisy family. Mint Bush is the antipodean shrub Prostanthera. In Australia, you’d find that peppermints are types of Eucalyptus, or gum tree.
The mint of my childhood was Mentha spicata, spearmint. A variety that truly tastes and smells of spearmint is Curly Mint, M. spicata ‘Crispa’. Its pretty, ruffled foliage and veining make it very ornamental. Moroccan mint is another spearmint, with sturdy green foliage and a powerful taste - the obvious choice for couscous and many Mediterranean dishes. |
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Varieties
There are some delicious peppermint varieties. My favourites are Basil Mint (because I find Basil annoying and difficult to grow and I use this as a substitute), Chocolate Mint (because I can indulge my chocolate addiction in all innocence), Eau-de-Cologne Mint (amazing flavour in salads) and Eucalyptus Mint (to confuse my Australian relations). There’s also Lime, Lemon, Grapefruit, Black – and probably more – peppermints, each with their own distinctive taste and aroma.
Silvery White Peppermint, with tall, lilac flower spikes, is related to Buddleia Mint – both are specially attractive to butterflies and bees. For sheer decoration, try green and gold Ginger Mint, red-stemmed Raripilla, or the sweetly fragrant, variegated Pineapple Mint. For scintillating flavour, Bowles (or Epicure’s) Mint vies with the towering spires of apple mint. All are tremendous wildlife plants. But I’ve never seen more bees on any than on our wonderful native water mint, Mentha aquatica.
If you’ve been subjected to dried “peppermint tea” in bags, you will be amazed how much better mint teas (of all varieties according to your fancy) taste when picked fresh. And sauce from a jar is a bit bland when you are used to freshly prepared “Citrus Varieties Mint Sauce”!
There are truly mints for all tastes and occasions, but of course they are all invasive. Personally I enjoy plants I can’t control (well, that’s my excuse), but only the diminutive, creeping Corsican Mint (M. requienii) really toes the line.
I recommend mints in huge tubs – brilliant for eye-level picking and savouring the spectrum of scents as you brush by them!
©Margaret Lear
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