Mint (Spearmint)
Mentha spicata
The older mint. Cooler, greener, less insistent than its hybrid child.
Overview
Spearmint is the original kitchen mint — cultivated since antiquity across the Mediterranean and Middle East, the mint of Roman cookery, of Islamic confectionery, of English sauce for roast lamb. Peppermint, its hybrid descendant with water mint, is more pharmacologically potent and more commercially prevalent, but spearmint predates it by millennia and retains a flavour that is rounder, greener, and less medicinal: cool without being cold, sweet without being sharp. It spreads by rhizome with the methodical ambition of all its genus, and a plant put in the ground in spring will hold its corner of the garden indefinitely, pushing out into beds and paths with the quiet confidence of something that has been doing this longer than the garden has existed.
Botanical Notes
A vigorous aromatic perennial to 90cm, with lance-shaped, wrinkled, toothed, bright-green leaves and slender spikes of small lilac to white flowers in whorls from July to September. Unlike peppermint, a sterile hybrid, spearmint produces viable seed. Found naturalised throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas, commonly on disturbed moist ground near habitation and as former garden escapes. Contains carvone as its principal aromatic compound, giving a sweeter, less astringent flavour than peppermint, which is dominated by menthol.
Lore & History
The Romans brought spearmint with them across Europe; its presence in a kitchen garden is an almost reliable indicator of Roman settlement when found growing feral near ancient sites. In Greek mythology, Minthe was a naiad transformed into the plant by Persephone, jealous of the attention Hades paid her — an origin myth that reads a plant understood as beautiful, aromatic, and possessed of a difficult relationship with power. It was strewn on floors at festivals, added to funeral garlands, and scattered on graves. Medieval monasteries grew it in every physic garden as both a flavouring and a digestive remedy. The Arabian Nights merchant's inventory includes it without comment, as something whose presence needs no explanation.
Warnings
Generally very safe. Spearmint tea has shown a mild anti-androgenic effect in clinical studies — potentially relevant for hormonal conditions but a consideration for men consuming large quantities regularly. The essential oil is toxic in concentration and must not be taken internally undiluted. Safe in all normal culinary use and as a tisane. Avoid excessive internal use in pregnancy.