Mints: Types, Uses, and Benefits 

Well here I am maybe three years after you made this video. And my neighbor gave me seven or eight pots of two different mints. so now that I just saw your video, I’m pretty excited because we have three dogs and sometimes plenty of indigestion. My wife and I love our flowers that the Lord has blessed us with. And now I’m looking forward to putting mint at strategic places around the place. So I guess what I’m trying to say, is I got a bigger blessing than I thought. God just does such cool things. Thank you and God bless you all.

I didn’t realize there were that many different mints😳. Learn something new every day lol 👵🏻👩‍🌾❣️

I've lived in my house for over 20 years and there was mint planted before I moved in. This morning was the very first time I made tea from the leaves. I knew you could make tea from mint but, I didn't realize how simple it was. Sometimes we overthink things and never get around to doing those things. I do like black but, find it has an aftertaste. No aftertaste at all with this mint tea I'm sipping! Thank you for all the information you provide. Now I'll have to start harvesting and dehydrate some to put up for winter.

I LOVE growing herbs - by far my favorite thing to grow; and of the herbs, my favorite is growing mint (all kinds)!

I'm a big fan of mint. This year I was given two different mint plants, Berries & Cream and Strawberry. They smell wonderful and their flavoring is light but tasty. I left them in pots instead of planting them in the ground so I'm glad you shared that they may not live forever in pots. I'll try and regrow some clippings. Love your channel.

I use my mints in so many ways , like you. My favorite is called Black or Camphor Mint, which is said to be the strongest menthol mint. I use it just like other mints, but is great for a salve to rub on your chest, under your nose for coughs, respiratory discomfort. I make a huge jar of mint oil by soaking the dried leaves in olive oil for several months, strain & pour into dark glass bottles for a great skin & achy muscle rub ! It is awesome for dry skin like mine !!! Sometimes I make a huge pot of strong tea from different varieties of mints, then freeze it in serving size containers or ice cubes for a refreshing drink on these hot days . You can add a little fruit juice to it before or after freezing, if you like. Of coarse it is heavenly , like you mentioned in the chicken coop !

Lemon balm finds its way all over my garden and my yard even. But I thank you for your sharing the benefits of the mint family. I drink a mint tea every day. I love it, sometimes it makes my head tingle for the time I am drinking it. But I find that it gives me soothing feeling a bit later. Love the mint family.

Last year I added chocolate mint before I moved. Oh my that was good!! Spearmint i had had in several places where the weeds were hard to get at. It choked them out! Bonus: weed whacking never smelled so good. With God's blessing I may be able to get some in the ground before and of summer now that I'm back in the states. (For good!!) As always, very good and informative video. Blessings!

Mint is also great against rodents, we have a field behind us and rats come to feast on our chickens feed. We've been using peppermint all around our chickens pen and it seems to be helping, didn't know it helped with chicken mites, so thanks for sharing that info. I love the hot mint tea in winter but with these 90 plus degree days nothing like a cool iced mint glass of tea, blessings

Not only is mint delicious in hot tea, but is a very refreshing cold tea on hot summer days. We make pitchers of it in summer.

While not a mint, eucalyptus is very flea repellent. I have used it for both animal's and kids. Mosquitoes don't like it either.

I LOVE spearmint! We use it to garnish cold tea and use it in hot tea as well. I was not able to grow spearmint for years with continuous trying, however, I amended my soil with rabbit manure and that did it. Now, I have spearmint growing in many places and I love to put it between my plants in the food forest. I have learned over these 30 plus years of trying to garden in deep south Mississippi in sandy loam soil that you need plants to grow to GET plants to grow. The ones that kind of take over help to break up the soil and provide shade so that other plants can grow. My son's fiance had a bad migraine last week - REALLY bad and so we looked up what we could use and it suggested using moringa (which we grow) and peppermint. I didn't have any peppermint on hand so we are using spearmint (I did order heirloom peppermint seeds.) We made her tea and used peppermint oil (1 drop to 1 tablespoon avocado oil for the carrier oil) to spread on her forehead and for aromatherapy. That with acupressure brought her migraine down from a 7 to a 1 in 20 minutes! The spearmint is not as strong as peppermint but it still helps for the migraine and it is so delicious especially in cold tea. Brew your tea and then drop the spearmint in and chill. It's a southern delight especially on a hot day - very refreshing! By the way, my son's fiance had taken a migraine medicine that was not working. She was in tears with the pain and I felt I needed to do something to help. Prayer, tea, essential oil, and acupressure and she was up moving around in 20 minutes. She has now taken to drinking the moringa and mint tea every day and it is keeping her headaches at bay that try to come on her post migraine.

Growing peppermint for the first time and figuring out how to use it. Thank you for sharing.

Peppermint oil is the only thing to help with my migraines.

Amen, God is good all the time.

I grew mint last year 2020 rooted to harvest and I enjoy it to spread throughout the area. Happy to learn how to prepare to use mint. Fabulous

My chocolate mint does not smell like it did when I fist had it, but it sure grows😁 I think the Moroccan mint is what they call woolly mint around here, that came with the house! Love it, plain or mixed with other mints. I have 5 or so different ones, the lemon balm is the most vigorous for sure!!!! No way I have use for all of it, but I cut it back and cover the compost, works amazing! (Sometimes fresh kitchen stuff will smell and attract flies, not if covered with mint!)

Still haven't found any orange mint 🤔. I have pineapple, apple, chocolate, peppermint, mojito, sperement, sweet, lemon balm, grapefruit, strawberry, catmint and catnip

Between seeds I started and some cuttings from my sister in law I now have chocolate, orange, mojito mints, as well as peppermint and spearmint. Oh! And lemon balm! They are all growing like weeds. The cuttings are are so easy to grow from! I never thought to spray mint "brew" on veggies!

There is the Lemon mint. Thanks for knowledge.

I just recently found your channel. I grow quite a few mints and mint cousins. Red Raripila - a pretty decent growing medicinal mint. I haven't used it in cooking but it has a nice spearmint scent Berries and Cream - it has a lovely color pinky-purple but I don't smell berries Jessica's Sweet Pear - a nice fruity scent and pretty robust Bob Marley - fast-growing spearmint from Bob Marley's plantation in Jamaica. It has the largest leaves of any spearmint that I grow. I haven't tried to propagate it but intend to. It is not easy to find. Spanish - A nice spearmint. Curly mint - grown for its ornamental properties. It is a pretty spearmint but not as fast or robust as some of my other mints Banana mint - It does have a fruity scent but I'm not placing bananas Orange aka bergamot mint - used for potpourri more than culinary. I don't like the scent but it is a pretty plant Lavender mint - new to me so I don't have much yet about it Blackberry mint - a fruity peppermint Mojito - Sweeter than some spearmints Sweet mint - This is one of two or three spearmints that you will find at box stores grown by Bonnie plants. It is a nice plant. It's one of the first to start growing in the spring in my area Lime mint - a lovely citrus scent Strawberry mint - It's a very small-leaved mint but it smells amazing. It is one of my favorite mints. It is very hard to get it to root from cuttings Mentha longifolia - aka Habek, Horse, or Bible mint Has very thin leaves It is more upright than creeping Mentha haplocalyx aka BoHe - a Chinese medicinal mint Pineapple mint - a nice variegated fruity mint. It doesn't grow as robust as its cousin apple mint but it is still one to grow because it is pretty Julep - Spearmint, used in mint juleps peppermint - just a mutt from Bonnie plants grapefruit mint - not as citrusy as its other citrus mint cousins but still a nice plant Kentucky Colonel - Spearmint used for Juleps, makes a nice iced tea also Moroccan - Not as hardy as some of my other spearmints Candy mint - a sweet Peppermint Chocolate mint - smells like dirt to me, otherwise a peppermint with dark stems "The Best" mint - It is definitely not the best here in East Tennessee. I have to replace it every year, although it is what is sold in most nurseries around here. Spearmint English mint - a good run of the mill Spearmint. It's not the best but it's also not the worst either. Ginger mint - a spicy scent sometimes variegated with gold flecks. Mine does not, however Hillary's Sweet Lemon - Nice citrus scent, hairy leaves, does not propagate easily Two that died over the winter that I want to replace and try again: Thai mint - Spearmint, used in Thai cooking Blue Balsam Peppermint - It survived the winter but dies after it started to warm up. I think I am going to need a greenhouse for my more tender mints next winter. Mint cousins that I grow: Mountain Mint - new to me but it shows promise Lemon Balm - What can I say about this herb that people don't know? It's a great lemon herb for beginners Catnip - For more than just cats Rosemary - I love the scent Pineapple sage - does not smell like sage. Good bee and hummingbird plant Lemon Thyme - good butterfly attractant I hope I didn't miss any. I am also planning on ordering more mints this year.

I have a lot of Apple mint, it is growing everywhere, even in a wooden potting table lol. I love the Apple mint in lemonade, so good. If I can get seeds saved, waiting for flowers to dry, I could send you some. I haven’t saved actual seeds from it before, just let it reseed itself every year, but going to try to save some this year.

Hello Heidi, I made a comment on one of your peppermint videos and I wanted to apologize to you and anyone that has seen it. I was wrong in what I spoke on the subject. I do believe God created every herb and everything in the earth and everything in the universe. I am learning more in my walk with the Lord and also am understanding more that the enemy takes what is God's and twists it to benefit himself, including information. I do believe peppermint is very beneficial for us and our animals and i do use it as needed. Again i just wanted to say I'm sorry and that i was wrong. Much love and blessings to you and your family and all who see this post. Missouri Wrightchk

Thank you for sharing! I just got some chocolate mint and I’m pretty excited to try! I plan to start a few different mints too 💜

I had been growing spearmint in pots. Thanks for talking about it getting root bound.

I love growing mint. They are all on my deck outside the kitchen door. Chocolate mint is my favorite, this is my third year with it. It’s so good in coffee and cocoa. I like one called “D’best mint”, it’s cross between spearmint and sweet mint and is really good for tea. I grew mountain mint this year and don’t like it. And also new this year I found pineapple mint. Smells great but isn’t growing really well.

Thank you, Heidi. Boy oh boy will they outgrow their pots fast! I put a little 4” pot of chocolate mint in a barrel planter last year. It added some beautiful color with the other plants. It spread all around the barrel in that short season and that’s a big planter! 😃

Love peppermint. I'll be dehydrating some this year. Love it in my iced tea and the smell. Have to repot mine. Maybe I'll have to have hubby build a raised bed just for the mint. Thank's for the info, good as alway's. Stay safe and healthy. God bless

I just grew mint this year and it was the mojito mint. Was thinking it would use it for cold drinks, but i also want some mint for hot teas. I will be growing more mints next year! Thanks for your video and the knowledge you have about mint and other mint-type plants!

Great vid. Thank you

That u so much for all the advice on herbs and canning I really enjoy watching ur channel. Im working toward being as good as u are at it I just started the farming homestead self sufficient life a year ago and ill never go back now

Thank you

We are loving apple mint. It makes a nice hot tea on a cold evening. I’m sure we are going to use lots this fall and winter. I’m thinking orange mint might go well with it.

oh great, now my chickens are going to want to come live with you, lololol,,,,,will have to try this, even though my coop is covered with mint around it, be prepared though when they come visit, i have at least six that keep hatching babies, ,,,have a great week Heidi, god bless

I love peppermint! I make your borage mint tea every day while it is fresh. I also grow spearmint, oregano, lemon balm. I make a hot tea of lemon balm, lemon basil and lemon thyme and then refrigerate it for a cool drink all day long. I dehydrate my mints for drinking in the cooler weather.

Very informative thanks for sharing ❤✌👍👍

I really enjoyed this video...thank you mrs Rain country. I love my Penny Royal mint. (aka squaw mint) for insect repellent.

God is great 💕 👍 blessings 🙏.

Thank you for sharing ❤️💗❤️ I believe I have spearmint.... The orange mint sounds wonderful.... Didn't know about keeping insects at Bay.... thank you again SENDING A BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT OF LOVE TO SURROUND THE UNIVERSE 🤗💞💖🤗 AND EVERYONE 🤗❣️❣️🤗💞

I got my book today! The Homesteaders Herbal Companion is fantastic! I have already read through a lot of it! Thank you for the recommendation!

Love ❤ love ❤ love ❤ this. I love spearmint. It tastes like wrighlys doublemint gum to me. I'm experimenting with choc mint this yr 2020. Thanks girl & God bless 🙏❤🙌

Thank you 😊

Vietnamese mint (Rau Ram) is very easy to grow I use it as a hot tea for digestive

Ty

Right on time. Just harvested some chocolate mint from my front porch garden. 😍🌱.

I grow spearmint in my garden to use in Greek style meatballs. I grow it in a container to keep it in check.

Chocolate mint and I add it to most any tea I drink! Making my husband mullein tea lately and adding a few leaves. Now I want to try to find lemon and orange mint plants as well as Mojito mint. I tried planting mint plants around the chicken coop to keep bugs down but my girls eat and scratch is out.

Try the pineapple mint. I LOVE mine 🧡

If you put 1 cup of chopped chocolate mint in a banana bread it tastes like chocolate chips

I have spearmint but I did have some chocolate mint It was dying i picked a piece and threw it in the yard it start growing again

Excellent Excellent Video,, New subscriber

ooh that Mojito mint is really good to lay on Lamb when you cook it I will try it for tea mix now you say its good for that : ) I do love to use the larger leaves in a warm water foot bath with a little chamomile to soak my tired feet in summer very soothing : ) Do you do trading of seeds for some of these varieties? I don't have spearmint anymore and miss it. Lovely video thank you for all the info.

I popped some mint into my hair vinegar mix yesterday. It's mostly rose petals, violets then a bit of chamomile, sage, two thymes and some peppermint. Yarrow was calling to me as I did my chores yesterday but there's no room in the jar for more plant material. One mint you didn't mention was Thai Mint..I grew it last year and it overwintered in frigid Alberta!

Lemon balm is a mint used for teas and baths. Catnip besides for cats is also for teas. :)

If you have lots of the orange mint, you could steam distill some into essential oil for your vapo rub...

1st spring in our new house and I noticed a "mint" popping up in several locations along the side of the house. Crushing a leaf you got that mint scent with a strong earthy undertone that almost smelled skunks. I later IDed it as Catnip, a variety in the Catmint family. I was confused because my cat showed no interest in it, even after I dried it and crushed some up in a jar. What a bonanza when I discovered the medicinal value of Catnip.

🐓 My favorites are spearmint and chocolate mint 😃

I'm having no problem with Chocolate Mint, Comfrey, and Daylilies growing together. I'm sure it's because the roots aren't competing for space. About mints growing in pots. I planted a Kentucky Colonel mint (a strong spearmint used for Mint Juleps) in a pot and set the pot on the ground, not in a saucer. It soon grew out the drainage hole. It would take over my garden if I didn't do like you said. It's not a problem to keep under control, but I have to keep a watch on it.

I use mine in the chicken coops, as teas and they really add some pizazz to salads🥰

I brough a mint plant today ,but not sure which kind cause it didn't have the tag in the pot... They had a few different one's at the local nursary. It smells amazing. I also got 2 different thyme plants ,the english and italian one's. Those had tags...

Our entire pasture is covered with what I once assumed was peppermint but now believe is pennyroyal. know it needs to be used with caution internally but I'm wondering if it would be safe to put in the chickens' pens and nest boxes since it's known to be a natural insect repellent. A couple of years ago I made the mistake of putting one small spearmint plant in the ground which has now overtaken the entire garden! I'm drying it by the ton for tea along with lemon balm and heal all. It's interesting that most of the weeds and wild plants I've been foraging on my own property are in the mint family ;)

I think I'm going to lowes today to see if I can find some more of these mints to grow I need more herbs in my life

I wish I knew what kind of mint I have. My local supermarket had some (they do every spring) and I just grabbed about 4 little pots of it. Some of it is doing great, some of it just grows teeny tiny leaves. This is my first year growing it so time will tell.

I made bugspray after your video, its better than anything you can buy.

I need to make a mint only bed and fill it 😅. I’m tired of using my pots and now I know why they all of a sudden just die back. Pots don’t give me the quantity I want.

just picked some orange mint

I grow lots of mints here too, though ive never heard of corsican mint, its so sweet. I grow apple mint sttrawberry mint and lemon balm to drink as fresh tea because they loose their flavor when dried. I would add thuringer mint as it has a great and intense spearmint flavor but as strong as peppermint. I have another variety of mint id love a bit of help to name. It has very large leaves, as wide and a bit longer than a chicken egg, Very very fuzzy and a lighter green color. It taszes a bit like spearmint but is mild and tastes a bit funky at certain times of the year a bit like apple mint can. It grows a bit over knee height and was given to me in a pot of 3 types of unlabeled mint varieties.

You may have covered this before. I know you spray your herbs with homemade vinegar & rinse before dehydrating some of the times. Do you also spray vinegar & rinse before eating lettuce from your garden? I washed mine with plain water at least 3-4 times and still found a caterpillar crawling in my salad during dinner time! I’m glad I caught it 🤨 Or what do you suggest? Thank you so much for your time! I’ve learned so much from you ❤️

I love mint! But it's best in big pots!

My mints never smell great when I dry it. Is it just me? I've dehydrated and let it hang to dry.. both. Thanks for your valuable contributions! I'm making cold tea as I listen..😊

Hi Heidi 💓😙

Again another fantastic video, thank you so much! Do you have any recipe for a ground hog? All my cucumbers and radishes are gone. The town is not going to do anything and the ministry of wild animal and forest told us to find a trapper🙄. I tried to make a slurry of hot hot pepper that even burned my hand spraying it around and she came out from under the shed and munched on thing like I had served her veggies and salad dressing. I don’t mind sharing if she doesn’t touch my tomatoes and peppers but this year’s cucumbers harvest is sadly done. I am so glad that all my herbs and lettuces are growing in containers on the balcony instead of in the garden. But who knows maybe miss groundhog might pay those a visit during the coming nights. Have a good week, I love all your videos, thank you and may the Lord keep you and yours blessed.

i have pepermint, orange mint, strawberry mint

hmm ok i was making a mojito and grabbed some mints we had growing ,one of them was a wider light green leaf but another variety was thinner darker leaves, i thought those were the spearmint but im not sure now , i grabbed 5 of the larger ones i think might be peppermint and 3 of the thin ones ,made a great mojito though

Ohhh we been fighting rats I’m gonna spray mint water around the coops

👍

I love my mint! I've grown peppermint, spearmint, and chocolate mint for many years. Last year orange spots appeared on the leaves and someone told me it was leaf blight and it would all have to be pulled and burned or it would spread to other plants. They said it would stay in the ground. I didn't find anyone with first hand experience, but got rid of my mint. Have you experienced this before? I want to plant again, but am not sure how to prevent that from happening again.

What is Sweet Mint?

Just found your site !!!! I love growing herbs this year I am finding that my apple mint has tiny clear drops on the underside of the leaves , they seem sticky . I can’t find bugs but don’t know what these are from or what to do about it , any suggestions would be great.

Spearmint is my favorite for taste even though I know Peppermint is more medicinal it seems too strong for me. I tried over ten varieties just for fun but come back to spearmint, always. BUT spearmint doesn't like me. I can get any other one to grow like crazy but not spearmint. Any suggestions for hot, humid, rainy Florida? Inside maybe-LOL.

❤ applemint is good but didn't grow well in heat if I recall

I love mint!! Right now I have sweet mint and spearmint in a pot but I had planned on moving them. I have an area next to my house that has rock in it from the previous owners. I was thinking about putting mint there. If I decide to do that would I need to move the rock out of there, or will it come up around it? I also bought some seeds for other mints, like catnip. Is it too late to plant it now in July?

Curious - do you grow tea, or do you just use your various herbs to make your teas? I love your videos and watch them over and over. You are my inspiration this year to plant an herb garden. However, my local stores closed out their garden shops before I got all I wanted, so I'll have to wait till next year to get more. **frustrated sigh**

At about 8:20 minutes into your video the camera was showing some mint and a whitish plant just behind it. Can you tell me what that is and what it’s used for? It looks familiar.

June 16th is my birthday 😉😊🤗

Do you use stems and all the your tea? Also do you leave stems on while dehydrating/ grinding up? Thanks Heidi God bless you and your family

Off subject but you talk about different leaves you put in your mixed greens blend, I have heard you can get green bean leaves, have you tried and how did they taste, Also is it just pole been leaves that can be eaten? If not that's ok. Just wanted to know if it's worth trying sometime. And what they may taste like. Sorry if you have already covered this one wouldn't find a video on the subject. Thanks

Hi Heidi good morning! Today's date is July 27th/2023, I'm watching your video on making mint extract, however when you gave the date you only mentioned the Month and the number and not the year. Why is that so? I think that should be mentioned. I love your videos!!

can you use the mint that you grow in the garden in Diy hair products.

I grow a few mints and it seems to me they tend to change when grown from seed. I have a really good long lite green mint and it comes true from root but not from seed . From seed it comes darker wider and w/a bit of different taste. Thoughts ?? The Lords blessings and stay safe...

I have been growing spearmint, peppermint, and lemon balm this year in pots. My lemon balm and peppermint seem quite happy but the spearmint is not. I may try growing them in the ground. I heard that you can't grow them close together because they will cross pollinate and ruin the flavor. What's your experience?

I tried Corsican mint many years ago. It was pretty but it did not survive the Indiana winter.

i just bought blue sage do you have?

Where can you order all these mint seeds that you are talking about ? Tia

i have some spearmint growing. it is very strong. it is hard to find a use for it

Hi Heidi. Please add the flea spray link. Thanks

How do you tell the mints apart.

I live in zone 7A. Is it too early to plant garlic, carrots, or rutabagas?

What’s the difference from mijito mint and spearmint ? My local nursery claimed it was the same. I can’t find spearmint but really need it. Also your orange mint looks different from mine. Mine definitely smells orange though haha. Since mint is aggressive, is it possible to grow any of these in the same pots? How much space would you recommend? How do you fertilize it?

I promise this will be the last question (well maybe lol) I dehydrated some apple slices yesterday for 12 hours and they're still leathery Are they supposed to be like that?