Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Herb guide to Garden Mint along with all the Garden Mint containing recipes presented on this site, with 534 recipes in total.

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 information about Garden Mint and a listing of all the Garden Mint-based recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Garden Mint as a major herb flavouring.

Garden Mint, Mentha spicata (also commonly known as Spearmint, Green Mint or simply just Mint) is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Lamiaceae (mint) family of plants. This is perhaps one of the commonest of all herbs and is grown in many gardens. A highly aromatic herb it is very invasive and is generally grown in pots.



It is commonly thought that the name comes from the 'spear' shaped leaves. Its leaves are, however, no more 'spear' shaped than any other mint leaf. A more probable source for the name is the monastic order of St Pierre, whose monks are thought to have first cultivated the herb. The main culinary cultivars being 'Moroccan Mint' and 'Tashkent Mint' which have the best flavours for mint sauces.



Spearmint leaves can be used fresh or dried, though fresh, chopped, leaves gives the most pungent flavour. As mint sauce it is often used as an astringent accompaniment to fatty meats such as lamb. Mint can also be made into a tea. It also goes very well with oily fish such as mackerel and is a crucial ingredient in many Asian dishes.



It is also commonly used as a flavouring in confectionary, sweets and such products as toothpaste.