Mentha piperita 1:1 extract: peppermint in liquid form
Peppermint is not a wild species but a cross between water mint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata). That cross is sterile: it sets no seed, so it spreads through runners, and every peppermint plant in a garden ultimately descends from a cutting. You recognise it by the square stem shared by all mint family plants, by the dark green leaves with reddish veins and by their coarsely toothed edges. Pale purple flower spikes appear at the tips in late summer. The plant reaches somewhere between thirty and ninety centimetres.
Its unmistakable smell and cool aftertaste come from the volatile oil in the leaf, in which menthol and menthone are the best known components. That leaf is what this extract is made from: a 1:1 extract in a 10 ml bottle, with roughly one gram of plant material worked into each millilitre. A more concentrated extract such as 2.5:1 holds more than twice as much in that same millilitre. This ratio therefore stays close to the leaf itself, carrying the fresh, slightly sharp taste you know from peppermint tea.
Dosing and use
Measure a number of drops into a glass of water or tea, or take them under the tongue. Give the bottle a quick shake first. Peppermint is intense in flavour, so start with less than you think you need; adding another drop is always possible. In the kitchen, peppermint extract also goes into sweet preparations, where a single drop travels a long way.
Storage and precautions
Keep the bottle cool, dry and dark, and out of reach of young children. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding or on medication, talk to your doctor first. Avalon Magic Plants carries dozens of other 1:1 extracts in the same category, among them chamomile, nettle, ginger, marigold and dandelion.
