Vegetable - Mint Leaves

Mint Leaves

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About the Vegetable :Mint Leaves have been been one of the popular herbs known since antiquity for its distinctive aroma and medicinal value. Botanically, the herb belongs to the Lamiaceae family, in the genus; Mentha. Mints are aromatic, almost exclusively perennial, rarely annual, herbs. It is actually a natural hybrid-cross between water-mint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata).The herb has a characteristic refreshing cool breeze sensation on taste buds, palate and throat when eaten; and on nasal olfaction glands when inhaled. This unique quality of mint is due to the presence of menthol, an essential oil in its fresh leaves, and stem.They have wide-spreading underground and overground stolons and erect, square, branched stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, from oblong to lanceolate, often downy, and with a serrated margin. Leaf colours range from dark green and gray-green to purple, blue, and sometimes pale yellow.The flowers are white to purple and produced in false whorls called verticillasters. The corolla is two-lipped with four sub equal lobes, the upper lobe usually the largest. The fruit is a nutlet, containing one to four seeds.

Scientific / Binomial name : Mentha piperita

Popularly Known as :Pudina pata, kruizemunt, Minze, Pudina, Pudina yele, Daun Pudina Kodak, Daun Kesom, mynta, Pudhina

Usage :

• The essential oils in the peppermint act on cold-sensitive receptors in the skin, mouth and throat; the property that is responsible for the well-known cooling sensation that it provokes when inhaled, eaten, or applied to the skin. This characteristic of mint can be employed in the preparation of cough/cold reliving remedies like syrups, lozenges and nasal inhalers.
• Peppermint oil has analgesic, local anaesthetic and counter-irritant properties and has been used in the preparation of topical muscle relaxants, and analgesics.
• It is also being used in oral hygiene products and bad-breath remedies like mouthwash, toothpaste, mouth and tongue-spray, and more generally as a food flavour agent; e.g. in chewing-gum, candy.
• It is also being used in oral hygiene products and bad-breath remedies like mouthwash, toothpaste, mouth and tongue-spray, and more generally as a food flavour agent; for instance, in chewing gums, candy, etc...