Spearmint

Mentha spicata

Historical tradition – not medical advice, and no health or healing claims. more

Historical botanical drawing: Spearmint — Spearmint

Tradition (Hildegard's writings)

In Hildegard's tradition, spearmint was associated with digestion and the joints.

Ingredients

The leaves are used for the powder and the fresh plant for the juice; the leaves reach their highest content of active substances before flowering.

Note

The mints are hard to tell apart botanically. What is sold as spearmint covers the curly-leaved forms of several different mint species.

Botanical background

Spearmint belongs, like all mints, to the mint family (Lamiaceae). Its German name points to the crinkled foliage; botanically the term gathers the curly-leaved forms of several mint species, whose classification long remained unsettled. Unlike peppermint it holds almost no menthol: its essential oil is free of it and leaves no cooling impression, and it is dominated by carvone, which gives the oil its caraway-like spearmint note. Before flowering, the leaves reach their highest content of active substances. Hildegard describes it in the Physica as of moderate and sharp warmth and names it expressly as a seasoning for meat, fish and porridge; peppermint was still unknown in her day.

Sources & references

Hildegard von Bingen: Heilsame Schöpfung. Die natürliche Wirkkraft der Dinge (Physica). Hrsg. von der Abtei St. Hildegard, Eibingen. Beuroner Kunstverlag 2012 (4. Auflage 2024). Cap. 1-78.
Strehlow, Wighard: Die Hildegard-Naturapotheke. Heilmittel und Rezepte von A bis Z. Knaur Verlag 2014.
Strehlow, Wighard: Der Hildegard-Kompass. Die wichtigsten Heilmittel und Anwendungen. Knaur Verlag 2014.

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More preparations using Spearmint

Curly Mint Juice Curly Mint Powder Curly Mint Wine

Historical tradition. The above describes how this preparation was recorded and used in the tradition of Hildegard of Bingen. This is cultural-historical information, not medical advice and not a health or healing claim, and it is no substitute for advice from a doctor or pharmacist. If you have health complaints, please consult your doctor or pharmacy.

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