Mint

Genus Mentha

Mint splits in two. Peppermint is built on menthol and tastes cold and sharp, while spearmint is built on carvone and tastes sweet and round.^[1] The cold is not a temperature but a trick. Menthol opens the same nerve channel that real cold opens, and in animal pain studies that is also how it dulls pain.^[2] Peppermint's best-established use is for the gut, where it relaxes the muscle wall and eases irritable bowel syndrome.^[3]

Peppermint

Mentha x piperita

Also Known As: Mint, Mentha Piperita
Family: Herbal
Perfumery Note: Top
Intensity: Strong
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Flowering tops, Leaves
Origins: United States, India, China
Effect: Focus & Mental Clarity, Respiratory Support
Aroma: Minty, Fresh, Cool
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Massage & Body, Cooking & Flavouring, Household & Cleaning
Price: $$$$Considered "premium" English peppermint; yield is standard, but the specific quality and heritage drive the price

Peppermint is the coldest of the mints, and it earns that by being over a third menthol. Menthol opens the nerve channel that reports cold, so the sensation is real even though nothing has cooled down. Its steadier reputation is for the gut, where it relaxes the muscle of the intestinal wall. In a placebo-controlled trial, 75% of people with irritable bowel syndrome halved their symptoms on peppermint capsules, against 38% on placebo.^[4] Reviews also credit it with easing pain and swelling and holding back bacteria.^[5]

Spearmint

Mentha spicata

Also Known As: Garden Mint, Common Mint
Family: Herbal
Perfumery Note: Top
Intensity: Medium
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Flowering tops, Leaves
Origins: United States, China, India
Effect: Focus & Mental Clarity, Energy & Uplifting, Warming & Comforting
Aroma: Minty, Sweet, Fresh
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Cooking & Flavouring
Price: $$$$Mass-produced globally for the chewing gum and toothpaste industries

Spearmint is the mint of chewing gum and lamb sauce, sweet and cool without the bite. Most of it is carvone, which lands far more gently on the tongue and nose than menthol does. That gentleness is the whole appeal for anyone who finds peppermint too fierce. Studies in people support its old use for wind, bloating and the discomfort of indigestion.^[6] Reviews also credit carvone and limonene together with protecting cells and slowing an enzyme involved in Alzheimer's.^[7]

Bergamot Mint

Mentha x piperita f. citrata

Also Known As: Eau de Cologne Mint, Lemon Mint, Orange Mint
Family: Herbal
Perfumery Note: Top
Intensity: Medium
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Leaves
Origins: United States, England, France
Effect: Sleep & Relaxation
Aroma: Citrus, Mint, Floral, Fresh
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Perfumery & Fragrance Making, Cooking & Flavouring
Price: $$$$A hardy perennial that spreads like a weed and yields oil easily

Bergamot mint is a mint with no mint in it. Instead of menthol it makes linalool and linalyl acetate, the soft floral compounds that carry lavender. The result smells of citrus and flowers, which is why it is also called eau de cologne mint. Its leaves are unusually loaded with flavones that damp down allergic reactions. Two of them were among the most powerful ever reported for any flavonoid, in lab tests on the cells that trigger allergy.^[8]

Cornmint

Mentha arvensis

Also Known As: Field Mint, Wild Mint, Japanese Mint
Family: Herbal
Perfumery Note: Top
Intensity: Strong
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Leaves, Flowering tops
Origins: India, China, Nepal
Effect: Focus & Mental Clarity, Respiratory Support
Aroma: Minty, Sharp, Cooling
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Cooking & Flavouring
Price: $$$$Grown at enormous industrial scale across India and China primarily to supply the natural menthol crystal market, keeping the crude oil inexpensive

Cornmint is where most of the world's menthol comes from. It holds more than any other mint, up to nine tenths of the oil. Much of the crop is processed to take those menthol crystals out and sell them on their own. What is left smells sharper and more medicinal than peppermint. The oil kills the moulds that spoil stored grain,^[9] and in mice it calmed the inflammation behind eczema-like skin.^[10]

Essential Nose

Mint

Peppermint

Spearmint

Bergamot Mint

Cornmint

References