Spearmint, also commonly known as garden mint is an aromatic herb of the mint family. Very often used as a flavouring agent in sweets, beverages, salads, soups, meats, sauces etc and its essential oil used in flavouring toothpastes, candles and chewing gum.
Difference between peppermint and spearmint:
Spearmint has a relatively mild flavour which comes from the chemical ingredient carvone, whereas peppermint has a more pronounced flavour coming from the organic compound ingredient menthol. Both spearmint and peppermint contain menthol content, but as for spearmint it has 0.5% versus peppermint with 40%, giving it a spicy and pungent taste.
Benefits of spearmint tea:
1. Good for digestion:
Spearmint has multiple benefits when it comes to digestion, right from relieving symptoms of indigestion, nausea, vomiting and gastric. The component carvone in spearmint has found to strongly inhibit muscle contractions in the digestive tract and relieve digestive upsets. It can also help relieve abdominal pain, abdominal discomfort and bloating.
2. Memory skills and cognition:
Due to age and sometimes because of other illnesses or in case of accidents, memory loss is something common. Spearmint can help increase attention span and memory function and improves the quality of working memory.
3. Improves respiratory health:
Spearmint has anti-inflammatory properties and can help provide a soothing effect. It can provide relief from sore throat and also soothe or even clear nasal and chest congestion.. It can also be beneficial to soothe headaches, colds, coughs and menstrual pain.
4. Other benefits:
Reduces hirsutism: Hirsutism is a condition where women develop dark coarse hair growth on the face, chest and back, because of excessive androgen, the male hormone. Drinking spearmint tea can help reduce the levels of androgen in the body to reduce the unwanted hair on face and body.
Shields the skin: Has antioxidant properties which can shield the skin from free radical (particles which are known to damage the healthy cells in our body) damage and can help prevent allergic reactions.
Can help people suffering from osteoarthritis: Spearmint tea can help reduce the stiffness and disability caused by this disease as it has an abundance of anti-inflammatory properties to reduce the effects of osteoarthritis (where degeneration of the joint cartilage and the underlying bones takes places, especially after middle age, causing stiffness in the joints and disability).
Detoxifies the body: Spearmint tea consumption can have antioxidant benefits and help detoxify the body. READ MORE – Healthy Ayurveda Water to flush out toxins, boost immunity and more…
Here’s how you can make spearmint tea at home:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of water
- 1 tsp spearmint tea or dried spearmint leaves
- Honey to taste
Method:
Boil 2 cups of water on the stove and add the spearmint tea powder/dried leaves to the boiling water and let it continue to boil for around 2 minutes so that the flavor gets infused into the water. Then, turn off the flame and let it sit for 2 minutes, before straining it into a cup. You can add honey as per your requirement. Mix well and is ready to consume. You can also add green tea with spearmint tea to increase the benefits and enhance the taste.
You can also prepare plain spearmint tea by stepping a spearmint tea bag in a cup of hot water and use the tea as a face mist to clear acne and get a healthy skin.
Please Note: There are two variations you can follow while making the tea –
(i) You can replace the spearmint tea powder/dried leaves for freshly plucked leaves from your garden and follow the same process.
(ii) You can also – In an empty tea bag with a string (available online for purchase) add the spearmint dried leaves* and tie it close and place it in a cup, add hot water to it and leave it for two minutes till all the flavor gets infused into the water. After which, using the string, dip the tea bag three to four times in the water before removing. Then, add some honey to taste and the spearmint tea is ready to consume.
* The dried leaves can also be made at home using this method – After washing separate the leaves (single leaves) and spread it onto a cloth on an empty plate. Let it dry for a few days or until dried and free from any water, till the leaves have a dry and crisp texture. Store in an air tight container. READ MORE – HAIR THICKENING WATER to regrow thinning hair
Caution – Check if you are allergic before using any herbs in your diet. Do not exceed the recommended dosage per day to avoid any side effects. If you are under any medication or pregnant then check with your physician before trying any herbs.