The benefits of mint
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What mint does
What this vegetable does
Mint encourages sweating and clears excess heat and toxins from the body.
How to eat it
Use it in herbal tea, salads and sauces to bring a sense of coolness to a dish.
A yakuzen note
It can be looked to for clearing excess heat from the body and improving the circulation of qi.
Mint is a pungent herb, cool in nature, held to settle excess heat trapped in the body, settle the circulation of qi and clear the head and the mood. Its appeal is a fresh, cooling aroma, and it suits daily care when you want to change gear, or when you want to feel clear. From herbal tea and drinks to desserts and flavouring a dish, it works widely: an ingredient whose aroma is a pleasure.
TOC
When mint is in season, the kinds, and how to choose
If you want to bring in what mint does, deliciously, knowing the season, the kinds and how to choose makes it easier to use. Its appeal is a fresh, cooling aroma, and it is a mint-family herb that is easy to grow and widely useful.
Fresh leaves from spring into autumn, dried all year
Mint is a perennial of the same family as shiso and basil, a herb long loved around the world. Fresh leaves are in season through the growing months from spring into autumn, roughly April to October, and it is strong enough to grow easily in a window box. Dried mint and mint tea are available all year. Japanese hakka is also a kind of mint. Lively fresh leaves suit decorating dishes and drinks, dried leaves suit tea: use each for what it does best. Freshly picked leaves are at their most fragrant, so when using it fresh, choose a new bunch.
Spearmint, peppermint and dried mint
The strength of the aroma varies by variety and by form.
| kinds | What stands out |
|---|---|
| Spearmint | Gentle and sweet in aroma. For cooking, mojitos and other raw uses |
| Peppermint | Strongly cooling. For tea, confectionery and flavouring |
| Dried mint | Dried leaves. Easy to use as mint tea |
To bring freshness to a dish or a drink, gently aromatic spearmint is easy to use; when you want a firm cooling note, peppermint suits. To bring it in easily as tea, dried mint is handy. Freshly picked leaves for fresh brightness, dried for any time: choosing by use brings out what mint has.
How to choose it and how to use it
When choosing good mint, these points make it easier to tell.
- Fresh leaves: a vivid green, taut and glossy
- Leaf tips neither wilted nor blackened
- Dried: finely aromatic, well dried and not damp
Clapping fresh leaves lightly between your palms, or tearing them with your fingers, brings the aroma out just before use. For decoration, the tender leaves at the tip of a sprig look best. To carry the aroma across, tear the leaves into a drink or a dish. When using a lot, adding whole sprigs and lifting them out before eating gives you the aroma alone. It is strongly cooling, so too much can overwhelm; adding it a little at a time and adjusting is what to aim for.
How to bring mint in
Mint works widely, from teas and drinks to cooking, drawing on its fresh, cooling aroma. Here are the standard ways.
In mint tea and drinks
What brings out the most in mint is tea and drinks. Boiling water poured over fresh or dried leaves makes a fresh mint tea. Chilled, it is clean and refreshing. With soda water, lemon or lime, it makes a drink exactly right for a hot day. A non-alcoholic mojito, with crushed leaves, lime and soda, is fresh too. A little in black or green tea brings the aroma forward. A little sugar or honey makes it easier to drink.
In desserts, salads and cooking
Mint goes well flavouring dishes and desserts. Alongside ice cream, yoghurt or fruit, it adds colour and a fresh aroma. It goes well with chocolate and works in baking. Chopped into a salad, or used in Vietnamese fresh spring rolls and Southeast Asian dishes, it gives an accent of aroma. It has long been used to take the smell out of lamb and mutton too. With cucumber, tomato and yoghurt, it makes a clean-tasting dish for hot weather.
How to keep mint
Fresh mint does not like drying out, so wrap it in damp kitchen paper, put it in a plastic bag and keep it in the vegetable drawer of the fridge. Standing it in a glass with a little water, cut ends in, makes it last longer. When you have a lot, chop it into an ice tray, freeze it with water and it is ready for drinks. Dried and kept, it lasts a long time as mint tea. Keep dried leaves and tea in an airtight container somewhere cool and dark, away from damp, and use them before the aroma goes.
Alongside this, it is worth knowing about The benefits of coriander and a fellow mint-family plant enjoyed for its aroma, The benefits of shiso as a guide when building a table around aroma.
Mint, easy to grow and enjoyable all year, is a herb whose fresh, cooling aroma you can enjoy in mint tea and drinks, in desserts and flavouring dishes. Gentle spearmint, cooling peppermint, easy dried mint: choosing by use brings out what each has. For daily care when you want to change gear, or when you want to feel clear, bring mint in.
