Descriptions of Plants: Peppermint

Old Money

Gathering Biodynamic peppermint in our Jardin

Family: Lamiaceae

INCI: Mentha piperita

Parts Used: Leaves – Glandular Tissue

Life Cycle: Perennial

Our Uses: Coming Soon!

Aroma: Mainly minty, with notes of pepper inducing sensations of cooling, refreshment, and renewal.

Good For: Tonic, protective, balancing, humectant, brightening.

High in: Antioxidants, offering antibacterial and antiseptic properties. Rich in menthol and other monoterpenes, which are cooling and stimulating.

Peppermint is one of those herbs that needs no introduction: everyone has interacted with it, or a derivative, at some point in their lives, whether as a food additive (gum, candy, ice cream, toothpaste) or, hopefully, with the actual herb itself as a digestive and calming tea. It has been seen as a healing herb since what seems like forever, even being mentioned in the Bible. First officially documented by the Ancient Egyptians (they seem to be the first to document many plants), it was known even then to be a valuable plant for its ability to ease stomach ailments when mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus (1550 BCE). Peppermint was even valuable enough in ancient Egypt to be used as a form of money. This use of peppermint as currency traces to the current day for the word “mint” as a place for minting money. Roman scholar Pliny the Elder, in his 37-volume Natural History written in the first century CE, lists 41 medicinal uses for mint.

Our peppermint patch

Fast forwarding closer to modern day, peppermint has a distinctive history within the then newly formed United States. Commercial production of peppermint for peppermint oil—brought westward by Lewis and Clark—seems to have begun in the mid-18th century in England and in the early 19th century in the U.S. It first took hold in upstate New York, and gradually spread west to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. By the early 20th century, over 90% of the world’s peppermint and spearmint oils came from Michigan.

When applied topically on the skin, peppermint is known to have anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antimicrobial, and particularly soothing and cooling benefits, especially when applied on bug bites and rashes. It also controls the secretion of oil, and minimizes itching and inflammation, although, perhaps ironically, in too large a dose it can also lead to irritation. It has even been shown to promote extensive hair growth in mice!

The principal components of the oil are menthol (~30%), menthone (20%–30%), and menthyl acetate (3%–10%), although gas chromatographic analysis of peppermint oil (a standard test to quantify a plant’s compounds) typically shows more than 40 different components. Menthol, menthone, and menthyl acetate are what give peppermint its classic “minty” aroma and flavor that everyone recognizes, which makes sense since they comprise about 50%-60% of peppermint oil. Because peppermint oil can be quite potent, and sensitizing to some with sensitive skin, peppermint water (i.e. hydrosol) is often recommended as a gentle substitute for those people to still enjoy its wondrous antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

We’ve been experimenting with peppermint for years and it has become one of our favorite plants to use on our own skins, as well as to grow in our Jardin. It seems to enjoy our soil and climate, making us contemplate growing larger quantities. Soon we’ll be pleased to share what we’ve been working on with peppermint. In the meantime, be the first to know by subscribing to our newsletter if you haven’t already!

Sources:

-Saeed & Tariq. (2005) Antibacterial Activities of Mentha piperita, Pisum sativum, and Momordica charantia.

-Oh, Park, Kim. (2014) Peppermint Oil Promotes Hair Growth without Toxic Signs.

-Salamon * Labun. (2001) Comparison of peppermint teas in regard to essential oil content and its composition.

-Michael Murray. (2020) Textbook of Natural Medicine (Fifth Edition).

-Sahandi, Mehrafarin, Khalighi-Sigaroodi, Sharifi, Naghdi badi. (2018) Review on Anatomical, Phytochemical and Pharmacological Properties of Peppermint (Mentha piperita L.)

-D'Amato, Serio, Chaves López, Paparella. (2018) Hydrosols: Biological activity and potential as antimicrobials for food applications.