Spearmint

Spearmint is an aromatic herbaceous plant that barely reaches 30 cm in height, with a very extensive, invasive root system that allows it to spread quickly across the ground where it is planted. Its leaves, lanceolate with serrated margins, are smooth on the upper surface and slightly hairy underneath, and give off their characteristic intense minty aroma as soon as they are brushed with the fingers.

In summer it produces small flowers grouped in spikes, white, pink or lilac in colour, with five almost equal sepals. It is precisely this elongated spike shape of its flowers that gives rise to its scientific name, spicata, which in Latin means “spike-shaped”.

Its cultivation is documented as early as the time of Charlemagne, who included it among the plants that had to be grown on the imperial estates, and since then it has spread across a wide belt stretching from Europe to China.

It is a hardy plant that is easy to grow, preferring damp, fertile soils and a sunny or semi-shaded position, and it has become naturalised in vegetable plots and gardens all over the world thanks to its ability to spread by underground stolons.

With more than thirty common names in Spanish — hierbabuena, yerbabuena, menta verde, menta de jardín or hortelana in the Canary Islands, among others — it is one of the most widely used aromatic plants in Mediterranean cuisine, from Moroccan tea to the Cuban mojito.

Its infusions are traditionally used to aid digestion, and its essential oil is used as a topical analgesic thanks to its relaxing effect on the muscles.