Spearmint
Mentha spicata · Herb
Top 10 pairings
Spearmint (Mentha spicata) is the common garden and culinary mint — bright green, crinkled and lance-shaped, with a sweeter, milder, warm minty flavour built on carvone rather than the cold menthol of peppermint. That rounded, grassy sweetness is exactly why it is the cooking mint, going into mint sauce, tabbouleh, mojitos and Moroccan mint tea where peppermint would read as too sharp and icy.
Picking a good onedrag
Just cut, standing stiffLimp, yellowing, slimy
Shop freshEveryday bestThe all-rounder: salads, sauces, yoghurt, drinks.
Leaf colourGreen, a pale lower leaf or two
The bunchSoftening, leaves starting to cup
Cut stemCut end drying brown, stem stiff
Smell when bruisedScent comes when a leaf is rubbed
These cues are Mint's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
Keeping ittap a temperature
A domestic fridge holds it about 6× longer than the counter.
95-100%
Humidity
Vented bag, not sealed
Airflow