Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Herb guide to Peppermint along with all the Peppermint containing recipes presented on this site, with 8 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 Peppermint as a major herb flavouring.

Peppermint, Mentha x piperita (also known as Mentha balsamia represents any member of the Mentha (mint) genus with a distinctly peppery flavour. Like other mints, peppermint is a member of the Lamiaceae (mint) family, and thus has a stem with a square cross section and alternate leaves. Peppermint is actually a hybrid mint, derived as a cross between the watermint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata). Though native to Europe, it has been naturalized world-wide due to its culinary properties.



Like its parents, peppermint is an herbaceous rhizomatous perennial plant growing to 30–90 cm with smooth stems that are square in cross-section. The leaves are from 4–9 cm (1.6–3.5 in) long and 1.5–4 cm (0.59–1.6 in) broad, dark green with reddish veins, and with an acute apex and coarsely toothed margins. The leaves and stems are usually slightly hairy. The flowers are purple, 6–8mm long, with a four-lobed corolla about 5mm diameter; they are produced in whorls (verticillasters) around the stem, forming thick, blunt spikes. Flowering is from mid to late summer. Spearmint is typically sterile and was probably first cultivated in the British Isles, at least 10 000 years ago, from whence it spread throughout Continental Europe, the Near East and North Africa. Today, North Africa is the region where it is most commonly cultivated.



Peppermint has a high menthol content and is frequently used as a tea and for flavouring ice creams. confectionery, chewing gum, and toothpaste. The essential oil derived from the leaves contains menthone and menthyl esters, particularly menthyl acetate. Menthol and menthyl acetate are responsible for the pungent and refreshing odour; they are mostly found in older leaves and are preferentially formed during periods where the amount of sunlight during the day is at its greatest.



The English word mint originated from the Latin name mentha 'mint' which is, itself a borrowing from the Greek minthe [μίνθη]. The epithet 'pepper' applied to peppermint refers to the peppery and pungent taste of this specific mint type.