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Have you ever had an after-dinner mint? These familiar candies evolved from the ancient custom of concluding feasts with a sprig of mint to soothe the stomach. Science has lent support to this age-old practice, as well as many other healing uses of these herbs, best known as the source of menthol, which flavors candies, gums, toothpastes, as well as mouthwashes.
Peppermint and spearmint are both used in herbal healing and have similar effects, but peppermint is the tastier and more potent choice. It is also the more recent arrival. Spearmint was the original medicinal mint. Peppermint appeared later, a natural hybrid of spearmint species. But authorities aren't exactly sure which species combined to form peppermint, or when the spicier mint actually appeared. All the mints were considered one plant, mint, until 1696, when British botanist John Ray differentiated them.
Mint was mentioned as a stomach soother in the world's oldest surviving medical text. From Egypt, mint spread to Palestine, where it was accepted as payment for taxes. From the Holy Land, mint spread to Greece and entered Greek mythology. It seems Pluto, god of the dead, fell in love with the beautiful nymph, Minthe. Pluto's goddess-wife, Persephone, became jealous and changed Minthe into mint. Pluto could not bring Minthe back to life, but he gave her plant form a fragrant aroma. "Minthe" evolved into the mints' genus, Mentha.
Greek and Roman homemakers added mint to milk to prevent spoilage and served the herb after meals as a digestive aid. The Roman naturalist Pliny wrote that mint "reanimates the spirit" and recommended hanging it in sickrooms to assist convalescence. The Greek physician Dioscorides considered mint "heating," and therefore a promoter of lust. Other Greek and Roman herbalists prescribed mint for everything from hiccups to leprosy.
Chinese and Ayurvedic physicians have used mint for centuries as a tonic and digestive aid and as a treatment for colds, cough, and fever. Medieval German abbess/herbalist Hildegard of Bingen recommended mint for digestion and gout.
17th century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper claimed that mint is very profitable to the stomach - especial to dissolve wind and help the colic. It is good to repress the milk in women's breasts - and a very powerful medicine to stop menstrual flow. But Culpeper disagreed with Dioscorides on mint and sex. Instead of calling it a lust promoter, Culpeper considered it "an especial remedy for venereal (sexual) dreams and pollutions in the night (nocturnal emissions), being applied outwardly to the testicles." Shortly after Culpeper, peppermint and spearmint were differentiated, and herbalists decided the former was the better digestive aid, cough remedy, and treatment for colds and fever.