Mint

“ I have walked once in summer by the side of a little marsh filled with mint and white hawthorn. The mint and white hawthorn have with them a vivid, rare, delicious perfume. It makes you want to grovel on the ground—it makes you think you might crawl in the dust all your days, and well for you. The perfume lingers with you afterward when years have passed. You may scream and kick and struggle and weep right lustily every day of your life, but in your moments of calmness sometimes there will come back to you the fragrance of a swamp filled with mint and white hawthorn. ”

“ It is a good plan to crush a few leaves of mint with the sugar in any cup where a bunch of mint would be used.
CLARET CUP.
Dissolve in a little water six lumps of loaf sugar; add to this one sliced orange, one sliced lime, the juice of one lemon, one liqueur glass of Medford rum, and one quart of St. Julien claret. Pour into your claret pitcher in which has been previously placed ice and the paring of one cucumber. Stir well and after a few moments remove the cucumber paring. Lastly, add one bottle of plain soda. Place a bunch of mint in the top of the pitcher, stems down, and serve. ”

“ COMMON or SPEAR-MINT (Mentha viridis) , one of our most frequent garden herbs, is a native British plant, and grows wild in watery places, and near the banks of rivers, in several parts of England. The ancients ascribed many virtues to different kinds of mint, but it is not now possible to ascertain correctly the respective species, though there can be little doubt that spear-mint was one of the most important of them. Its flavour is to many persons peculiarly agreeable, and, on this account, it is employed for several culinary purposes, both in a green and dried state. ”

“ Mode.—Wash the mint, which should be young and fresh-gathered, free from grit; pick the leaves from the stalks, mince them very fine, and put them into a tureen; add the sugar and vinegar, and stir till the former is dissolved. This sauce is better by being made 2 or 3 hours before wanted for table, as the vinegar then becomes impregnated with the flavour of the mint. By many persons, the above proportion of sugar would not be considered sufficient; but as tastes vary, we have given the quantity which we have found to suit the general palate. ”

“ The assistant assayer, after a last lingering look at his little blue flasks—he was testing the amount of silver in deposits of ore brought in to the Mint from all over the country—if you find any in your back yard the Mint will pay you a dollar an ounce for it—was gracious enough to give me some fleeting glances at the fascinating work going on in the building. The first thing one realizes is the presence of the benign and silent goddess of Science. ”

“ No one is obliged to argue in its behalf. It speaks for itself. Having intrinsic value and the added stamp of the national mint, it represents so many grains of precious metal and their equivalent in whatever money will buy. ”

“ Open the tin of peas, strain off the liquor, and pour the peas on to the mint leaves. Now add a small saltspoonful of powdered sugar, half a saltspoonful of salt, and a small pat of butter as big as a five-shilling piece. Toss the peas for a minute or so lightly together, so that the butter is dissolved and the sugar and salt melted, and the fresh mint leaves brought to the surface. Now send the dish to table. The fresh mint leaves help to convey the idea that the peas are fresh. In everything we eat and drink imagination goes a long way. ”

“ They all laughed and contented themselves with looking at the outside of the severely plain meeting-house.
The tour over the Mint was filled with interest for all of them.
“This is the oldest Mint in the United States,” the guide explained to them. ”

“ There is often a doubt about the bran new coin—a golden egg, if I may so say, fresh laid by the Mint—it is suspicious-looking, it may be bad, it is so much brighter than usual; the thin, well-thumbed, dull-shining sovereign, years in circulation, is infinitely preferred. ”

“ The juice of mint fresh gathered, inhaled, is a remedy for affections of the nostrils. Beaten up and taken in vinegar, mint is a cure for cholera, and for internal fluxes of blood: applied externally, with polenta, it is remedial for the iliac passion and tension of the mamillæ. It is applied, too, as a liniment to the temples for head-ache; and it is taken internally, as an antidote for the stings of scolopendræ, sea-scorpions, and serpents. As a liniment it is applied also for defluxions of the eyes, and all eruptions of the head, as well as maladies of the rectum. ”

“ In some parts of the north of England it is customary for the inn-keepers to prepare mint-salad by bruising and grinding the vegetable in a large wooden bowl with a ball of lead of twelve or fourteen pounds weight. In this operation the mint is cut, and portions of the lead are ground off at every revolution of the ponderous instrument. In the same county, it is a common practice to have brewing-coppers constructed with the bottom of copper and the whole sides of lead. ”

“ I have been assured that many of them can, even in the dark, distinguish between several kinds of money, whose size and weight bear no great dissimilarity: besides, even those coins that bear the same value, and come from the same mint, differ greatly in both those particulars; some being broad and flat, like a shilling, though not defaced; while others are more dumpy, and, though of purer metal, not so ponderous. ”

“ Method.—Put all the above-mentioned ingredients, except the mint and ice, into a large glass jug, surround it with ice, and let it stand for 1 hour. Serve with small sprigs of mint floating on the top. ”

“ The mint receives the gold and silver by weight and assay of purity, melts and refines and mixes with alloy, to bring the mass to required fineness, nine-tenths pure, and casts the metal into bars called bullion. ”

“ A mint will, therefore, become of the utmost importance, to give such marketable value to silver bullion as to enable the merchants of those countries to keep up and increase the intercourse with our principal ports on the Pacific. ”

“ This Sort of Mint is hard to be met with; but is lately cultivated in some Physick Gardens at Mitcham. It must be kept well weeded, and the top of the Bed, where it grows, must, when we cut it, be pricked up, a little, with a small Fork, or the Earth made fine with a Trowel; because the Runners, of this sort of Mint, shoot along upon the Surface of the Ground, and so at the Joints strike Root, which is contrary to other Sorts of Mint, which shoot their Runners under ground.
Damson-Wine to imitate Claret. ”

“ “Open the whiskey, Tom,” she ordered, “and I’ll make you a mint julep. Then you won’t seem so stupid to yourself.... Look at the mint!” ”

“ The Black Mint is more prolific in essential oil than the White, and hence more generally cultivated; but the oil of the latter is superior in delicacy of odour and commands a higher price. White Mint is said to be principally grown for drying in bundles, or as it is termed “bunching.” [Pg 485]
Peppermint is grown on a vastly larger scale in America, the localities where the cultivation is carried on being Southern Michigan, Western New York, and Ohio. ”

“ In England and America the most universal use of mint is for making mint sauce, the sauce par excellence with roast spring lamb. Nothing can be simpler than to mince the tender tops and leaves very, very finely, add to vinegar and sweeten to taste. Many people fancy they don't like roast lamb. ”

“ Then only appeared an old woman, who cleared the little table and brought in a copper ewer full of tea, a basket of figs and grapes and a plate of round cakes, samsa and mekrout, very rich and tempting, but quite beyond our capacity even to sample. We, however, made inroads on the tea, in spite of the fact that it was infused with fresh mint and terribly over-sweetened. Tea with mint is a very good drink in hot weather and, after the rich native food, is really an ideal beverage in African conditions, if only it is made with a normal quantity of sugar. ”

“ Mint gives an agreeable flavour to Juleps, but is not of general application. A sprig of sweet-scented verbena, put into some cups, imparts an aromatic and agreeable flavour; but all these herbs must be used with caution, and are only pleasant when judiciously introduced.
Let your utensils be clean, and your ingredients of first-rate quality, and, unless you have some one very trustworthy and reliable, take the matter in hand yourself; for nothing is so annoying to the host, or so unpalatable to the guests, as a badly compounded cup. ”

“ The necessary state-privilege of coining money sometimes led to differences between mint-weight and commercial weight. Just as there arose in the ancient East a royal or sacred cubit different from that in vulgar use, so there arose in many countries a royal pound used in the mint and different from the vulgar commercial weight. In many countries, ancient and modern, the mint has kept up systems of weight consecrated by tradition but obsolete for all other uses, and out of harmony with commercial weight. ”

“ Nearly two-thirds of our coinage comes from the mint at Philadelphia, which is the largest and most completely equipped mint in the world. The coins for nearly all the South American countries are also made in this mint. ”

“ It is limpid, yellowish, sometimes greenish; in time it becomes darker and more thickly-fluid. Its specific gravity varies between 0.890 and 0.965. It has a strong odor of curled mint and a pungent, somewhat cooling, slightly bitterish taste. It is soluble in all proportions in 90 per cent. alcohol. In commerce a distinction is made between German and American oil of curled mint, the latter generally containing oil of turpentine and oil of sassafras. Odor, taste, and the alcohol test suffice for the determination of the quality of the oil. ”

“ All of the scales and delicate test instruments in use by the government, not only in Philadelphia Mint, but at the several branch mints, are manufactured in this country, and as examples of wonderful mechanical machines of minute accuracy they lead the world. ”

“ And mint growing in glasses of water, until it arriveth unto the weight of an ounce, in a shady place, will sometimes exhaust a pound of water.
And as they send forth much, so may they receive somewhat in: For beside the common way and road of reception by the root, there may be a refection and imbibition from without; For gentle showrs refresh plants, though they enter not their roots; And the good and bad effluviums of Vegetables, promote or debilitate each other. ”

“ We all know that it is more convenient to make our payments, so far as possible, in one coin than in two or more, let it be of gold, silver, or copper. Now, as a matter of ascertained fact, the Mint produces a larger number of shillings than of any other denomination of silver coin. ”

“ Crushed celery seed is liked by some in salad dressings. Spearmint is very refreshing. Delicate tender sassafras leaves may be used in fruit and nut meat salads.
Shredded fresh mint combines well with orange or grape fruit or with currant juice; tarragon with red raspberries and currants, and basil with peaches.
In closing the subject of flavorings, I quote the words of a lady visitor after sampling some of the dishes prepared by a class in cookery:
“Any one can give a taste to foods by adding condiments and flavorings, but to develop the flavors of the foods themselves is an art.” ”

“ They were dug up in 1858, and sent to the Mint as bullion, to be melted. They are of pure gold, but the workmanship is very crude. The images are in the forms of a reptile, a bird, and a man with symbols of power in his hands, not unlike those designating Jupiter. There are also, in the first section, two large cases with choice selections of mineral specimens, carefully classified and labeled. These are from well selected results of years of patient collecting, and are deserving of more study than can be devoted to them by casual visitors. ”

“ This is followed by a history of coinage in this country, with biographical sketches of the past and present officers of our Mint. The whole process of melting, assaying, refining and coining gold and silver is very lucidly explained; it is also fully illustrated with engravings as a further explanation of the text. There are a large number of phototypes of ancient and modern coins, Continental money, etc., etc., the whole forming a very readable book, and one which fills a gap in our country’s history. ”

“ French peasants have no use for mint in their cooking. Some English visitors had once planted a root of it in pére Duval's garden, but after they were gone he flung it out again on to the cliff-side, where it had increased and multiplied until it was now a large bed. ”

“ In the year 1834 a change took place in the ratio of gold to silver in the standard of U. S. coins, the effect of which was to bring large deposits of gold to the Mint. The coinage previously had been chiefly of silver. The more equal supply of the precious metals gave active employment in the assay of each of them, and was, of course, most valuable as an experience to Mr. Du Bois, who about this time became connected with the assay department. ”

“ He is, therefore, of opinion, on the whole, that a mint, whenever established, should be established at home; that the superiority, the merit, and means of the undertaker, will suggest him as the proper person to be engaged in the establishment and conduct 465 of a mint, on a scale which, relinquishing nothing in the perfection of the coin, shall be duly proportioned to our purposes. ”

“ On resuming my visit to the mint I took an early opportunity of stating to the acting governors my ideas respecting a new regulation for supplying mercury to the miners. One great impediment to the use of that metal, so essential in certain branches of the process, was the exorbitant price at which it was exclusively sold by the apothecaries, generally upwards of two shillings the ounce. I suggested that the mint should be the general depository for it, and that it should be issued from thence to the gold-washers without profit. ”