How to Use Peppermint
The Cooling Herb
Cooling · Pungent · Sweet · Herbal
Peppermint is crisp and acutely cooling. Far more intense than spearmint, a little goes a long way. If spearmint is the mint of cooks, peppermint is the mint of confectioners. Its real culinary footprint is in manufacturing rather than cooking: chewing gum, hard candy, ice cream, toothpaste, liqueurs, and pharmaceuticals. In the kitchen, it stays mostly in sweets, desserts, and teas.
FORMS
- Fresh: Fresh peppermint leaves are darker than spearmint, smoother and more pointed where spearmint is crinkled, and the stems and leaf edges often carry a purplish-red tinge. The flavor is unmistakable: a sharp, icy coolness from a high concentration of menthol.
- Dried: Dried peppermint holds its character well and makes one of the most popular herbal infusions in the world. The flavor concentrates and sharpens, making it the standard for tea blends, baking, and confectionery. Its aggressive menthol bite is the point here rather than a risk. Crumble the leaves between your fingers before steeping to break the cells.
- Extract and Oil: Peppermint extract is best for baking and desserts. Pure essential oil is a different order of concentration, so a drop or two is sufficient. But only use it if it's explicitly food-grade.
STORAGE
- Fresh: Store it exactly as you would spearmint.
- Dried: Whole dried leaves stay aromatic for 1-2 years in an airtight container away from heat and light. Crushed or powdered fades faster, so use that within 6-12 months. Test by chewing a leaf rather than smelling it: if there is no cooling on the tongue, the menthol is gone. This works because the cooling is a receptor response rather than a smell, and it registers at concentrations too low to detect by nose.
- Extract and Oil: Sealed in a cool, dark place, extracts last 3-4 years, which is effectively indefinite in a home kitchen, since the alcohol base holds the volatile menthol in solution. Close the cap firmly after every use, because the aromatic compounds are the first thing to leave an open bottle. Essential oil keeps as well, but specifically belongs out of the reach of children, given how concentrated it is.
PREPARATION
- For Tea: Steep a generous pinch of dried leaves, or 8-10 lightly bruised fresh ones, in just-boiled water for five to seven minutes. Peppermint rewards a longer steep than most herbal teas, since the menthol extracts gradually. Cover the cup while it steeps, or the volatile oils leave with the steam.
- For Baking and Confections: Extract is the right tool here, because it disperses evenly and doses predictably. Start with half a teaspoon per batch and build. For something more nuanced, steep fresh or dried leaves in cream, milk, or melted chocolate and strain, which gives a rounder peppermint than extract does. The infusion route is better for ice cream, ganache, and hot chocolate.
- For Garnish and Finishing: Fresh peppermint makes a striking garnish against chocolate, ice cream, and chilled drinks. Use whole, small leaves or gently torn pieces rather than a fine chop. Unlike spearmint, peppermint is rarely cut fine for cooking, because it will put menthol into every mouthful whether the dish (and the diner) wants it or not.
COOKING
- Chocolate and Confection: Peppermint's home is sweets, and above all, anything with chocolate. Menthol's cooling and chocolate's richness and bitterness. This is one of the great pairings in confectionery: peppermint bark, thin mints, peppermint patties, candy canes, and mint chocolate chip ice cream.
- Beverages: Beyond tea, peppermint belongs in hot chocolate (go figure), where a few crushed leaves or a drop of extract elevates the whole cup. It also works in a handful of cocktails via peppermint simple syrup, steeped warm and strained. Just not mojitos and juleps, which are spearmint's domain.
- Why Savory Is Excluded: Peppermint is nearly absent from savory cooking the world over, and that is not an oversight. Menthol dominates a dish rather than seasoning it, and it fights the fat and acid that spearmint is usually there to cut. Every savory mint dish, from Levantine tabbouleh to Indian chutney, is a spearmint tradition. If a savory recipe simply says mint, it wants spearmint, always.
Mint chocolate chip ice cream, one of the classic mint uses where peppermint genuinely beats spearmint. The high menthol content gives that clean, cooling finish that pairs so well with cold dairy and dark chocolate. Spearmint here would feel muted and too herbal.