Peppermint: Biological Characteristics, Cultivation, Use In Medicine, In Cosmetics And In Cooking

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

A gift from a fairy nymph …

Mint is a valuable essential oil culture that has found wide application in medicine and cooking. Botanists have identified 22 species of mint in the domestic flora. Various mint are widely and abundantly found in the temperate zone of the Old and New Worlds.

In Russian classics, field mint is repeatedly sung - a close relative of peppermint. It is one of the most common and popular types of mint. This perennial is not uncommon in the forest zone. Wild mint can most often be found on the banks of a river or lake, in a swampy forest and in the river bank, in a floodplain meadow, along ditches, in weedy areas.

Mint blooms from July to September with lilac crowded flowers. In folk dialects, field mint was known in the Arkhangelsk region as glushak, in the Vologda region - fruit mint (it was used to rejuvenate stale apples), in Vyatchina - perekop. They also called her bezhava, dragolyub, a diaper (applied for coughing and suffocation). Its origin is not exactly known.

In Russian forbs, vigorous bushes of wild mint are visible from May to September - the entire long period of growth and development of this wonderful plant.

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Peppermint

Peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) is called English mint, cold mint, chill. China and Japan are considered the birthplace of mint. Remnants of mint have been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to 1200-600 BC. BC e. The ancient Greeks believed that every forest stream, every lawn has its own deity, and one of them is Menta (Mint).

The Latin name for mint - Mentha is given to a part of the fabulous nymph - the patroness of meadows, gorges, rivers and springs. According to legend, the sorceress Proserpine turned this mythical creature into a plant. Perhaps mint is a native of those places.

An excursion into history

For its fragrant smell mint in ancient times enjoyed great respect. She was credited with the ability to bring a good mood. That is why the Roman patricians, before meeting guests, forced their servants to rub tables with this fragrant herb, and spray the halls with mint water. Ancient scientists assured that the plant has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the brain.

The famous Roman historian Pliny the Elder constantly wore a wreath woven from fresh mint on his head, and advised his students to do the same. They were supposed to wear mint wreaths, as the scent herb was believed to stimulate mental energy. This, to put it mildly, a strange belief persisted until the Middle Ages, when students imitating the ancients placed mint wreaths on their heads, especially on the days of examination debates.

The first written information about this fragrant herb is found in ancient Russian texts for 1119. In Russia, in the old days, mint was added to a snuff box with snuff, and mint kvass was drunk for appetite before dinner. Menthol soothes pain, so mint drops were taken for toothache and stomach pain. They bathed in mint broth before scrofulous children. Mint poultices were widely used.

There is evidence that Evdokia Lopukhina loved to steam with brooms, to which she added mint sprigs. It seems that the plant cannot be found with the scent of mint. And they recognize her no longer by her appearance, but by her smell. It is worth sniffing a shaggy twig or rubbing just one leaf of it in the palm of your hand, as the pleasant smell characteristic of this plant will overwhelm you with both spice and fragrance, and some slight chill that will not be forgotten for a long time. Every leaf is a box of aromas, always full of charm and charm.

Such a fact is remarkable in the biography of mint. It was with the help of mint that the English scientist Joseph Priestley discovered that plants emit a gas, which is so necessary for humans and animals for their life - oxygen. The natural scientist set up a witty experiment. He took two identical glass jars. Under one of them he placed a bunch of mint and mice, under the other - some mice. The mice placed with the plants turned out to be alive on the eighth day, and those that were alone died on the second day.

Peppermint is not found wild. Now in abandoned gardens, it can be found in a feral state.

This is an old cultivated plant. It has long been grown in flower beds and vegetable gardens. But some three hundred years ago it was impossible to meet in nature. Some researchers call England the birthplace of peppermint, in the old days it was called so - English. It was obtained there in the 17th century by crossing two wild forms (mint watery and spearmint). It was called pepper.

The main producers of peppermint are England and North America. It is also cultivated in France, Italy, Greece, Spain, North Africa, Central Europe and the CIS countries. Peppermint has an extremely strong odor and a cooling taste. This property formed the basis of her nickname - chill.

The value of mint

For the burning taste of the leaves, it is named peppery. Mint leaves contain up to 2.5% essential oil. The whole plant is very aromatic, since the essential oil of mint contains up to 50-90% menthol and its esters, pellandrene, pinene, yasmon, piperitone, mentofuran, tannic acids and others, as well as tannins, flavonoids. Triterpenes, carotene, hesperidin, betaine are found in mint leaves. Contains trace elements: copper, manganese, strontium and others. Menthol has a disinfectant effect, promotes digestion, and stimulates appetite. It is used for asthma, flatulence, disorders of the digestive tract, stomach diseases, neurosis, eczema, hypertension.

Essential oil is extracted from mint, which is used for medicinal and household needs. It is irreplaceable in the perfumery and cosmetology industry. Mint powders and pastes, a number of varieties of scented soaps also owe their refreshing power to this herb. A lot of it goes to flavoring syrups, tinctures, vodkas and liqueurs, in confectionery - to bake gingerbread. Neither give nor take, mint is a heroic essential oil culture.

Mint is a valuable nectar plant and from this point of view is of interest to beekeepers. On a summer morning in the mint thickets, you can hear the quiet hum of bees. Mint honey is transparent, amber, pleasant, refreshing taste. The only pity is that its collection from this plant is small.

Field mint, like its other relatives, is not suitable for fodder for livestock. Excessive amounts of mint in hay spoils it, impairs its nutritional value. From such hay, milk yield falls, milk loses its ability to coagulate.

Biological features of mint

The rhizome of this fragrant herb is creeping - there is no need to go deep on damp soils. Its stem is low, open, can reach a length of 1 m, with pubescent shoots. Mint leaves are round, ovoid or oblong with a pointed tip. Their edges are serrated. On the front and on the underside, the leaf blades are pubescent, rarely glabrous with short petioles.

Of all the plants belonging to the labiate family, mint has the most uncomplicated flowers. In peppermint, these flowers are small with bell-shaped calyxes, reddish-purple hairy and collected in round half-whorls, forming spike-shaped inflorescences.

Mint blooms from June to September. Mint is pollinated by flies and beetles.

Growing mint

The mint area should be well lit. It is not demanding on soils, but its habitat should be moist, even damp.

Mint propagates with the help of seeds (they are small, brown, retain germination for 2-3 years) and most often vegetatively - by rooting cuttings and dividing rhizomes. The planted cuttings of creeping rhizomes are capable of forming new shoots.

The mint is harvested when the plant is in bloom. Dry in the shade and store for a long time in closed jars and boxes.

The use of mint in medicine

Mint is a valuable medicinal plant. It is used in official and traditional medicine.

In pharmacology, mint is used as a means of improving digestion, against intestinal spasm and nausea, as a choleretic agent. Peppermint oil is a part of validol, various drops, mint cakes, cough drops, tooth powders and pastes. Mint leaves are used in the form of an aqueous infusion, as a means of improving digestion, against spasms in the intestines, nausea. Mint is a part of mouth-watering teas, carminative, choleretic, gastric, diaphoretic, sedative and aromatic baths. Mint soothes heartburn and bad belching. No wonder they say that it is cold in the mouth, but it warms up the intestines.

In scientific medicine, peppermint is used in the form of menthol preparation, which is prepared from essential oil, as well as in the form of tincture and mint water (for rinsing). In order to improve digestion, plant leaves are used. Peppermint oil is a part of medicines with antiseptic, anticonvulsant and tonic properties.

In folk medicine, peppermint is widely used. It is effective as a sedative in heart and nervous diseases, as a strengthening agent in case of loss of strength, it is used in cholera, rheumatism, toothache, as a means of regulating the gastrointestinal tract. This plant is used as an auxiliary choleretic agent. With a decoction of mint, diarrhea was relieved.

Mint is used for hemorrhoids, female diseases, and for severe headaches as a fast-acting external agent (in the form of fresh leaves). Mint is used for rickets, scrofula (in the form of a tincture, juice or bath decoction).

For bleeding from the lungs, a decoction of mint is useful, and for bloody vomiting, a decoction in vinegar.

Bulgarian doctors with a heavy odor from the mouth recommend rinsing your mouth with an infusion of mint in red wine and at the same time taking this infusion inside one tablespoon 2-3 times a day.

The use of mint in cosmetics

Peppermint has long been used for cosmetic purposes. It is used for soothing and anti-inflammatory masks. A tablespoon of mint is brewed with a glass of boiling water, covered with a lid, insisted for half an hour and filtered. The resulting infusion is used to wipe the inflamed areas.

For sagging skin, a hot herbal compress from a mixture of peppermint, linden blossom in equal proportions is useful. A tablespoon of raw materials is brewed with a glass of boiling water, insisted and filtered. The moistened napkin is lightly wrung out and applied to the face. Keep the compress for 8-10 minutes, soaking the cloth in the hot broth.

To refresh a tired face, make a contrasting compress of mint and cold water. In hot mint broth, moisten a napkin and keep it on your face for 2-3 minutes, then apply a napkin soaked in cold water. The procedure is repeated 2-3 times.

For dry skin, a mask is made of brewed dry mint (2 tablespoons of chopped herbs, pour 50 g of water and heat). Apply the mask to a clean face and keep for 15-20 minutes.

With acne prone skin, it is good to make lotions from infusion of mint, horsetail, yarrow and sage in equal proportions. Pour one tablespoon of the mixture with a glass of boiling water, let it brew and strain. Apply the liquid to a clean face with a cotton swab.

Also read:

How to use peppermint for medicinal and cosmetic purposes

The use of mint in cooking

As a spice, mint gives our food a refreshing, palatable aroma that induces an appetite. Especially often its greens are used in national Ukrainian, Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani dishes.

Mint leaves are an excellent spice to the table. Young leaves of peppermint are eaten in salads, okroshka and as a spice. A pinch of chopped or frayed aromatic herbs will add a refreshing taste to any dish - meat, fish, flour, vegetable, fruit. Bread kvass infused with mint is delicious!

Peppermint occupies a special place in English cuisine when preparing sauces for lamb meat. In American cuisine, it is used to improve the taste, or rather the aroma, of mixed drinks made from tomato juice and various fruit and vegetable salads. In Arabic, Spanish cuisine, mint is served as a spicy herb. In France and Italy, it is added to various spice mixtures.

In household use, fresh and dried mint leaves are used. The dried leaves should be fresh, beautiful green.

Mint leaves enhance the flavor of roasts, roast lamb and chicken. It is added to stews, carrots, peas, beans and beans, and leeks. In a small amount, fresh herbs can be used as a flavoring additive in vegetable soups, borscht, marinades for meat, fish, they also put fragrant herbs together with cheese in dumplings and various other cheese dishes.

Mint is widely used in confectionery as well. For example, almost everyone knows the aroma of mint gingerbread since childhood.