Dried Spearmint Leaves

Spear Mint

Botanical name: Mentha spicata

It is a herbaceous rhizomatous perennial plant. Spearmint grows well in nearly all temperate climates. Spearmint leaves can be used fresh, dried, or frozen. They can also be preserved in salt, sugar, sugar syrup, alcohol, or oil. Spearmint is often cultivated for its aromatic and carminative oil, referred to as oil of spearmint.

Benefits and uses:

Spearmint tea is used as a treatment for hirsutism in women. Its anti-androgenic properties reduce the level of free testosterone in the blood, while leaving total testosterone and DHEA unaffected.

Its essential oil was found to have some antifungal activity.

Spearmint has also been described as having excellent antioxidant activity; its antioxidant activity was found to be comparable to the synthetic BHT.

Spearmint is a flavour used mainly in chewing gums and tooth paste that is either naturally or artificially created to taste like oil of spearmint and also in confectionery and pharmaceutical preparations. It is also used for flavoring sweet dishes like puddings, cakes and kheer.

Spearmint is a flavour used mainly in chewing gums and tooth paste.

The leaves of spearmint are edible raw or cooked.

Spearmint sometimes added to shampoos and soaps.

In herbalism, spearmint is steeped as tea for the treatment of stomach ache.

Spearmint leaves and oil are used to make medicine.

A tea made from the Spearmint leaves has traditionally been used in the treatment of fevers, headaches, digestive disorders and various minor ailments.

Spearmint plant repels insects and was formerly used as a strewing herb.