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Herbs: Peppermint leaf - cut

Common Names: Peppermint, balm mint, brandy mint
Latin Name: Mentha piperita
Origin: USA

Excerpts from The How to Herb Book

Peppermint is a delicious mild tea. It is wonderful to use as a beverage – hot in the winter and cold in the summer. Dieters, it contains no calories.

• One of the oldest and most popular remedies for simple colic and minor bloat in children and adults.
• Good for all digestive problems, helps stomach pain caused by indigestion and is soothing to the stomach.
• Expels stomach and colon gas.
• Excellent for fevers, flu, diarrhea, ulcers, and colitis.
• Strengthens nerves and heart muscles.
• Cleanses and tones the body.
• Can be used instead of aspirin for headaches.
• Can take the place of coffee for a stimulant.
• Promotes relaxation.

Has been used in the following:

Excerpts from Nutritional Herbology

The popularity of peppermint is based on its volatile oil, which contains an abundance of menthol, a time-honored and clinically proven aid to digestion. Menthol is also a mild antispasmodic which makes it useful for relieving menstrual cramps and nausea. It is also a mild vasodilator, creating a warm or flushed feeling by stimulating circulation.

Peppermint oil is used in the food industry for flavoring. The herb and oil is used in the culinary arts because of its stimulating, stomachic and carminative properties. In medicine, peppermint has been useful as an antispasmodic, expectorant and irritant. It is used in alleviating the symptoms of colds, flu, and general fevers, nervous disorders, flatulent colic, rheumatism, as a local anesthetic and to cover the taste or quality of the nauseating or griping effects of other medicines.

The oil of peppermint has been shown to be antimicrobial and antiviral against Newcastle disease, herpes simplex, vaccinia, Semliki Forest and West Nile viruses.

Contains aromatic compounds that increase the production of digestive fluids, relieve muscle spasms, increase blood circulation, reduce pains, promote sweating and are antiseptic. It also contains astringent compounds which shrink inflamed tissues. Peppermint has been used to treat indigestion, flatulence, mouth sores, loss of appetite, muscle cramps, nausea, morning sickness and dysmenorrhea.

Peppermint is high or very high on the following nutrients:

Excerpts from Practical Herbalism

The mints are amongst the oldest and most reliable of herbal remedies, especially for issues relating to digestion. Culpeper quotes an even more ancient herbal authority, Simeon Sethi, and says, “It helps a cold liver, strengthens the belly, causes digestion, stays vomit, and hiccough. It is good against the gnawing of the heart, provokes the appetite, takes away obstructions of the liver, and stirs up bodily lust.” Apart from that last commendation, most modern herbals recite virtually the same litany. Ellingwood considered it specific for flatulent colic, gastrodynia, nausea, vomiting, spasmodic pain in the bowels, hiccups, palpitation from indigestion, griping, irritability of the stomach, diarrhea with abdominal pain, and nervous headache. In addition, he recommends it for the following pathologies: fevers associated with nausea and vomiting, local pain relief in rheumatism (as the oil), symptomatic relief of asthma and chronic bronchitis, toothache, acute indigestion, painful gonorrhea, and pruritis ani. Contemporary research shows this and several other members of the Labiatae family as having significant antiseptic and anti-viral properties, as well. The essential oil, distilled from the fresh cut plant, has enjoyed a wide range of medicinal and culinary uses since the 18th century, and is one of the few that are safe to take internally or apply to the skin undiluted.

Indicated Usages - Internal

Indicated Usages - External:

Special Considerations:

Like Ginger and Capsicum, peppermint is a helpful herb “catalyst” or activator; drinking a cup of Peppermint tea before taking other herbs opens the circulation, and potentiates their action. It also helps make the disagreeable taste of many herbal formulas a little more palatable.

Notes:

A few sprigs of peppermint placed in picnic baskets or food cabinets makes an effective deterrent to ants. As the list above indicates, a small bottle of peppermint oil can be thought of as a "medicine cabinet in your pocket," and can be used as an emergency remedy for a myriad of conditions. Never leave home without it.

From Our Reading and/or Experience...

• We use Peppermint more than any other herb in our teas. Of course, it can be used in many other types of remedies. It can easily be ground up, and used in capsules.
• Peppermint is a food. Thus, we keep it in the kitchen as all other food ingredients. We add it to many dishes (salads, meat dishes, stir fry, vegetables, etc.) to enhance the flavor and add nutritional value to our foods. Most of the times, we add it after the dish is prepared.
• It can be used to benefit anyone: men, women (including before, during or after pregnancy, and nursing), children and animals.
• It can be used as often as you would like, and in any way you choose.
• As is the case with most herbs, Peppermint should be stored in a dark, dry, and cool place.

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