MINT — LITTLE KNOWN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 118, 4 June 1937, Page 8

MINT — LITTLE KNOWN

Mint takes its naine from Minthe, who loved Pluto and. was said to he introduced into England by the Romans. All the different varieties have the qualities of preventing milk from curdling, and for this reason herbalists recommend it .to persons who live on 'milk diets. The two following quotations are many years old:— • ' 'Eat Betoyne and Mynts prepared in honey, nse herbs grace in thy wine." — April, "Ram's Little Dodoen, 1606." "Mintes put into milk, it neyther suffereth the same to curdle, not to beeome thick, insomuch that layed in curded rnilke, this would bring the same thinno again." — "The Good Housewife's Handmaid. 1588." Oultivation. — Tlie mint bed should have the old wood and twigs cut down periodically with the shears and be r'vossed with three inches of well-rotte( manu ro. Tlnless this is done mint impoverishes its soil ,and in the course of time tho springs grow smaller and smaller. The right sort of mint is about loin. high, with strong succulent stems and abundance of broad, fresh, clean green leaves tliat are full of the special aromatic qualities ivhich have made the plant fa.mous. Such can never be

grown on soil that has become impoverished. Where mint refuses to respond to any treatment, the roots should be lifted, divided and replanting in fresh rich soil. Many . people grow this crop in old tubs or boxes which is a splendid idea, as the soil can.be renewed every season. To make syrup of mint. — Take a quart of the syrup of quinces before they are full ripe, juice of mint two quarts, an ounce of red roses, steep them 24 hours in the juices, then boil it till it is half-washed, strain. out the remainder and make it into a syrup with double refined sugar. — From "The Recipe Book of John Nott," cpok to the Duke of Bolton, 1723. Mint water. — Take a good quantity of mint, pennyroyal and bahn. Steep them in canary or the lees of it for 24 hours. Stop them up close and stir now and thqn. Distil them in an alembick with a quick fire, sweetening it with sugar in your receiver.