Archive for the 'Spearmint' Category
You can ease occasional indigestion by sipping a cup of peppermint tea after your meal. Peppermint 
improves the flow of bile, which moves food through the digestive tract more quickly.
Use peppermint with caution if you have acid reflux problems as peppermint could possibly make this condition worse. Spearmint works the same way.
I grow peppermint and spearmint plants in my garden. I use the fresh mint leaves in summer salads and to give a fresh, brisk taste to iced tea and middle eastern dishes. At this time of year, I pick bunches of the stalks and mint leaves. I don’t want the autmn frost to destroy the plants. Then I allow the leaves to dry so that I can flavor my own food throughout the winter and the early spring.
I love to work outdoors to feel the soil and smell the fresh scent of earth under my feet. So every year, after the snow melts and the Earth finishes defrosting, I cultivate my organic garden. I spread rabbit manure (I consider it the best fertilizer to use), onto my garden’s soil and I use a good, old fashioned pitch fork to till the ground after weeding. I consider my garden to be organic because I use no toxic fertilizers and I use natural ingredients to control weeds and insects.
After I planted my annual flowers in the front of the house, I went to the backyard to plant my herbs, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Well, I was delighted to see a full circle of spearmint, about one foot in diameter growing in the same place I planted it last summer. Doubtful that it was really spearmint, I broke off a spearmint leaf and tasted it. I was happy to taste the wonderful, fresh essence of the mint.
Excited at the thought of making fresh spearmint tea, my mind raced ahead thinking about all the other wonderful uses of this magnificent herb. The Kentucky Derby was held yesterday, so I imagined the horse crowd just sitting at Churchill Downs sipping their mint juleps while waiting for the races to begin.
Then my imagination got the better of me as I had a vision of the fresh, crushed mint being consumed in a cool Mohito with ice in the glass. Spearmint leaves can also be made into refreshing iced tea on a hot, sticky day.
A few drops of spearmint oil applied directly onto skin wounds, such as burns, scalds and herpes can speed up the healing process. Also, spearmint tea is good for indigestion. It also works as a decongestant. Just the smell of the fresh spearmint is calming to the body and soul.