Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Herb guide to Lesser Calamint along with all the Lesser Calamint containing recipes presented on this site, with 0 recipes in total.

e This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Lesser Calamint as a major herb flavouring.

Lesser Calamint, Calamintha nepeta (also known as Nepitella) is a small perennial herb (rarely growing to more than 30cm tall) that is a member of the Lamiaceae (mint) family. It is a Native of Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, Western Asia and Eastern Europe. Like other members of the calamints it bears oval opposed toothed leaves all the way up the stem (these look very much like oregano). The pink to powder blue flowers are borne on spiked inflorescences between July and September.



The leaves are traditionally used to make a tea and are much stronger and more fragrant than common calamint leaves. They have a strong pennyroyal-like scent (but unlike pennyroyal they do not contain any toxic substances) and are often describes as a cross between mint and oregano. As a result they can be used as a flavouring in soups and stews and go particularly well with tomato- and garlic-based sauces. It is used quite extensively in Italian cuisine, where it is called mentuccia, nipitella or nepitella.