Peppermint

“ Its leaves and stems exhale a powerful, refreshing, characteristic aroma, and give a taste which, whilst delicate at first, is quickly followed by a sense of numbness and coldness, increased by inspiring strongly. Preparations of Peppermint, when swallowed, diffuse warmth in the stomach and mouth, acting as a stimulating carminative, with some amount of anodyne power to allay the pain of colic, flatulence, spasm, or indigestion. This is through the powerful volatile oil, of which the herb yields one per cent. ”

“ Nor must we overlook the carminatives, the pleasantly smelling dill, aniseed, rue and peppermint, the very names of which bring to our minds the sweetness of old country places and the efforts, not always vain, to quiet screaming country babies ! ”

“ PEPPERMINT CORDIAL Take of good whiskey 10 galls., water 10 galls., white sugar 10 lbs., oil of peppermint 1 oz., flour 1 oz., burned sugar 1/2 lb. to colour, alcohol 1 pint; put the oil of peppermint in the alcohol, then with this work the flour well, add the burned sugar, work again, and mix all the ingredients together; let them stand a week and they are ready for use. If you wish a different flavour from that of oil of peppermint use any other oil of which you desire the flavour. ”

“ The Roman housewives made a paste of the Peppermint with honey, which they esteemed highly, partaking of it to sweeten their breath, and to conceal their passion for wine at a time when the law punished with death every woman convicted of quaffing the ruby seductive liquor. ”

“ But its volatile odours swiftly evaporate, and become even offensively diffused about the room. In a moderate measure Camphor is antiseptic, and lessens urinary irritation. Recently a dose of ninety-six grains, taken toxically, produced giddiness, then epileptic convulsions, with dilated pupils, and stertor of breathing.
The Peppermint (Mentha piperita) , or "Brandy Mint," so called because having a pungent smell, and taste of a peppery (piper) nature, is a labiate plant, found not uncommonly in moist places throughout Britain, and occurring of several varieties. ”

“ 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 perfumery peppermint oil serves chiefly for aromatizing dentifrices, etc. It should be kept in well-closed bottles in a shady place; an addition of 0.5 per cent. of alcohol helps to preserve the oil for a long time.
Poley oil (oleum menthæ pulegii) .—In Southern France and Spain this oil is obtained by distillation from the leaves of Mentha pulegium. It has an odor resembling that of peppermint, is at first colorless, but soon becomes [Pg 136] yellow, has a specific gravity of 0.927, boils at 361.4° to 370.4° F., and contains neither menthol nor carvol. It is used for perfuming herb soaps. ”

“ Peppermint Lozenges, No. 1.—Take double refined loaf-sugar, pound and sift it through a lawn sieve; make a bay with the sugar on a marble slab, into which pour some dissolved gum, and mix it into a paste as you would dough, flavoring the mass with oil of peppermint. One ounce of this is sufficient for forty pounds of lozenges. Some persons prefer mixing their gum and sugar together at first in a mortar; but as it is indifferent which way is pursued, that may be followed which is most convenient. ”

“ Crude oil of peppermint is yellowish to greenish and contains much mucus; it has therefore to be subjected to another distillation with water. The rectified oil is clear as water, limpid, of a strong but pleasant odor and a specific gravity of 0.900 to 0.902. Old oil thickens and then shows an acid reaction. The greater portion of the oil congeals at the freezing point of water; many kinds, however, requiring but slight cooling in order to become solid. The solid portion of the oil, Menthol, (C10H12,H2O) is a colorless, finely crystallized body with an intense odor of peppermint. ”

“ If you have no pimento and it is not convenient to get it, take 21⁄2 ounces of peppermint, and 1 ounce of laudanum, and should you not have laudanum, take a larger quantity of peppermint with 1⁄2 pint of warm water, and give it as a drench. In this disease no time should be lost, as it very often runs its course in from 1 to 2 hours. If the first should not give [11] relief in 15 or 20 minutes, repeat it until it does. Rubbing the belly with a smooth rail or pole will greatly facilitate the action of the medicine. ”

“ Process.—The process is exactly the same as for peppermint stick, viz; boil the sugar water and glucose [Pg 51] to weak crack, 300; pour the boil on oiled plate, flavor with peppermint and work well up; in a smaller pan have two pounds of white sugar, with the usual proportion of cream of tartar and water boiled to the same degree; pull this over the hook until white and porous; remove it to the plate and work it down into lengths about one inch thick; lay them longways on the solid boil, equal distances apart; make the whole boil into a thick roll, bringing one end down to a point ”

“ Cook batch as for peppermint, only color the one pound yellow and pull it on hook, and knead into the main piece 11⁄2 ounces of tartaric acid, and leave it clear; form it as for peppermint and top off with lemon stripes, and finish as the peppermint batch.
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In making stick candy canes, cut off the lengths you want on an angle, and see that one end is a little smaller than the other; have helper roll them until he sees they are getting cold, if he bends them too soon the canes look flat and it affects the sale of them. ”

“ The average yield of peppermint is about 165 cwt. per acre. The first year's crop is always cut with the sickle to prevent injury to the stolons. The herb of the second and third year is cut with scythes, and then raked by women into loose hea's ready for carting. The field is then gleaned by boys, who add what they collect to the heaps. The plants rarely yield a fourth crop on the same land. ”

“ At Mitcham in 1850 there were about 500 acres under cultivation; in 1864 only about 219 acres. [1773] At Market Deeping there were in 1871 about 150 acres cropped with peppermint. The usual produce in oil may be reckoned at 8 to 12 lb. per acre. The fields of peppermint at Mitcham are level, with a rich, friable soil, well manured and naturally retentive of moisture. The ground is kept free from weeds, and in other respects is carefully tilled. The crop is cut in August, and the herb is usually allowed to dry on the ground before it is consigned to the stills. ”

“ Oil of peppermint is stimulant, antispasmodic, and carminative, and has always been a favourite remedy in flatulence, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, cramp of the stomach, colic, griping pains, diarrhœa, the early stage of cholera, &c.—Dose, 1 to 3 drops, on sugar. ”

“ Essence peppermint and SPIRITS CAMPHOR are often used in ailments similar to those in which I use aromatic ammonia, and this may be given in combination with them. Some persons have a decided preference for essence cinnamon, or wintergreen, and these may be substituted for peppermint; aromatics also, such as sweet flag, will have a similar effect.
Spirits nitre is often a grateful stimulant to the stomach, but it is also used in febrile affections, and inflammatory complaints. Four parts of spirits nitre to one of ar. ”

“ Peppermint began to be cultivated in this vicinity as an agricultural product about the year 1816, but for several years the want of a proper knowledge of its culture, and the expense and difficulty of extracting the oil, prevented its extension beyond a few growers, who, however, realised fortunes out of the enterprise. Almost any kind of soil that will successfully rear wheat and maize is adapted to the growth of mint. ”

“ Proceed as with Chocolate Butter-Scotch, only use maple sugar instead and omit the chocolate; finish as the above.
MOLASSES PEPPERMINT CHIPS. Place in kettle
1 gallon dark molasses,
1⁄2 pound butter,
2 pounds sugar.
Cook to 270°; stir all the time while cooking; pour on slab, fold up edges and form in shape to pull on hook; while pulling flavor with oil of peppermint; pull until the batch has a golden color; twist out the air and form it in a flat piece, in front of table furnace, and pull out as Boston chips. ”

“ In local rheumatic affections the skin may be painted beneficially with oil of Peppermint. For internal use, from one to three drops of the oil may be given as a dose on sugar, or in a spoonful of milk; but the diluted essence, made from some of the oil admixed with spirit of wine, is to be preferred. Put on cotton wool into the hollow of a carious tooth, a drop or two of the essential oil will often ease the pain speedily. The fresh plant, bruised, and applied against the pit of the stomach over the navel, will allay sickness, and is useful to stay the diarrhoeic purging of young children. ”

“ When it is stiff enough to handle place on the hook and pull very vigorously, when you have got it started pour a few drops of peppermint oil on it at the hook and continue to pull, after a couple of more pulls add a few more drops of peppermint. ”

“ A damp situation or badly drained ground is well known to be unfavourable to the quantity and quality of oil.
The presence of weeds among the peppermint is an important cause of deterioration to the oil, and at Mitcham some growers give a gratuity to their labourers to induce them to be careful in throwing out other plants when cutting the herb for distillation. ”

“ The person who pours the peppermint should remain on the roof or in the room where he does it, with the doors closed, until the examination is complete, for the odor will cling to his clothing and follow him wherever he goes for an hour or more. ”

“ The babies were made of plain sugar, but the grown people had different flavors. The young ladies were flavored with violet, rose, and orange; the gentlemen were apt to have cordials of some sort inside of them, as she found when she ate one now and then slyly, and got her tongue bitten by the hot, strong taste as a punishment. The old people tasted of peppermint, clove, and such comfortable things, good for pain ”

“ England can claim the superiority in the growth of lavender and peppermint; the essential oils extracted from these plants grown at Mitcham, in Surrey, realize eight times the price in the market of those produced in France or elsewhere, and are fully worth the difference for delicacy of odor. ”

“ Peppermint, raised for its foliage, from which oil is distilled, is most frequently cut before the bees derive much benefit from it, but whenever allowed to blossom it is eagerly sought after by them, and yields honey freely during July and August. ”

“ Among the essential oils, however, there is one which should form a part of every article intended for the care of the mouth, provided it can remain unchanged in the presence of the other ingredients, which would not be the case where permanganate of potassium is used. Oil of peppermint and other mint oils exert a very refreshing influence on the mucous membranes of the mouth, in which they leave a sensation of freshness lasting for some time. ”

“ Grown-ups have a tiresome way of being right about things like that, yet why should a square be called Peppermint Place if the trees aren’t peppermint trees? Moreover, the children said that if you went to the square at midnight the flowers were peppermint, and they said they could smell them in the early morning when they first got to school—a left-over, faint, but delicious smell that was nothing if it was not peppermint blossoms washed over with midnight dew. ”

“ Peppermint, spearmint and other oils used are triply distilled and absolutely free of all impurities. The orange oil comes from Messina and is always the product of the very latest orange crop.
From the kneading machine it reaches a sizing table, to which are attached heavy rollers for reducing the mass of gum to a strip about a quarter of an inch in thickness and twelve inches wide. ”

“ Pepp′er-grass, any plant of genus Lepidium; Pepp′eriness; Pepp′ermint, a species of mint, aromatic and pungent like pepper: a liquor distilled from the plant: a lozenge flavoured with peppermint—Peppermint-drop, a confection so flavoured; Pepp′er-pot, a West Indian dish, of cassareep, together with flesh or dried fish and vegetables, esp. green okra and chillies: tripe shredded and stewed, with balls of dough and plenty of pepper; Pepp′er-tree, a shrub of the cashew family, native to South America, &c.—also Pepper shrub and Chili pepper ”

“ A stick of peppermint candy was broken in four pieces, which, with four ginger-cakes and four huge apples, begged from the farmer’s wife, were packed in a little basket, and then they set off, all running, for no girl or boy can walk when they are so happy ”

“ Take from the stove, leave it untouched until it is about blood-warm, then stir steadily, always in one direction until the mixture begins to become creamy. Flavor to taste with essence of peppermint, adding this cautiously so as not to get the flavor too strong. Drop by the teaspoonful upon waxed paper, being careful not to put the drops so close together that they will run into each other. A candy dipper is even better for this purpose than a teaspoon. ”