Application
Spearmint has been known since ancient times as a spice and medicinal plant, as well as to "quench the appetite", which explains its occurrence in monastery gardens.
Christiern Pedersen (1533) recommends spearmint water for bad breath and spearmint mixed with barley flour and boiled in water for difficulty breathing. Furthermore, he believes that the leaves eaten with food help with stomach colds and counteract impotence.
Henrik Smid (1546) writes that the juice of spearmint mixed with vinegar stops hemoptysis and vomiting and kills intestinal worms.
According to Simon Paulli (1648), spearmint soothes hiccups, headaches and pain in engorged breasts.
Spearmint was included in pharmacopoeias until the 1700th century, when it was replaced by peppermint. The plant is today a popular spice and is still used in folk medicine for stomach colds and biliary and liver disorders. The volatile oil is used especially for flavoring chewing gum.
Ingredients
Volatile oil containing carvone, which is also the most important ingredient in caraway oil. Also tannic acid.
Mentha viridis L. var. Crispata
Photo of page in Joachim Burser's herbarium.
