Peppermint, on the other hand, is a little bit stronger than spearmint in terms of flavor, which is likely due to its higher menthol content. Spearmint has quite a mild flavor that is quite sweet and provides a nice, sweet taste. The taste mainly comes from R-carvone, which also provides the plant’s cooling properties.Īlthough other flavors, including (in order of percentage of quantity within spearmint’s composition) limonene, cineol, menthone, and less than 1% menthol. Spearmint has a noticeably refreshing taste that is on the earthy side. We know mint flavors for their cooling, refreshing tastes, but did you know that there are actually flavor differences between peppermint and spearmint that aren’t too subtle? Its flowers are purple in color and grow on a terminal, with a more whorled structure. These leaves also have a rather jagged, toothed form that appears quite sharp compared to the small, wrinkled appearance of spearmint leaves. Its leaves grow onto its stems and are somewhat larger than that of spearmint.
Peppermint grows low, as a creeping plant, and may reach heights of between 1 and 3 feet, though it does not grow wider than 3 feet. Unlike spearmint, peppermint contains 40% menthol and gets its cooling properties from there. Instead, it spreads runners over large areas. It is a cross between watermint and the aforementioned spearmint, making its scientific name Mentha x Piperita.īeing a hybrid plant, peppermint is a sterile organism and is unable to reproduce with any of its own seeds. Peppermint, on the other hand, is actually a hybrid plant that is not naturally occurring. While peppermint leaves appear to be toothed and they also look sharp. When it comes to the leaves, spearmint leaves are oblong in shape and they are rounded and lanced with a pointed tip. It will also appear whorled instead of tapering. On the other hand, the blossoms of the peppermint plant will grow on a terminal. The flowers of this plant grow in clusters and have shapes that taper off, and they are either pink or blue in color. Its leaves grow directly on its own branches and appear smaller and almost wrinkled in texture, and they may seem to have an oblong, rounded shape that appears lanced. Spearmint grows upright and straight and often reaches heights of up to 3 feet, easily spreading quite wide. This particular species of mint is naturally occurring and does not contain any menthol – or rather, contains less than 1% menthol – with all its cooling abilities, therefore, coming from carvone instead. Although it is traditionally native to Asia and Europe, it has made a home for itself all over the world through naturalization. Spearmint comes from the plant known as Mentha spicata, meaning it is of the Menta genus. To see the which is best between spearmint vs peppermint, you have to look at the finer details. Their stems are squarish, sturdy stems and their leaves grow opposite one another in pairs. When you put them against each other, spearmint vs peppermint, and compare their differences, you’ll find that they are, in fact, quite different from each other! Plant PropertiesĪll mint plants have a somewhat similar structure. While some easily notice the difference in taste between them, few know what the actual differences between these two types of mint plants and their subsequent flavors are. Two of the most popular mint varieties used are peppermint and spearmint, which you may know from when you’re browsing candy or gum flavors in a store. Spearmint vs peppermint which is truly better? Many foods use the ingredient mint, but did you know that there’s more to mint than just that? In fact, there are more than 600 kinds of mint plants, all with their own unique flavors.
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