Skip to content
Medicinal plant

Mint

Mentha spp.

An aromatic digestive for gas, bloating, and upset stomach.

What is mint used for?

Mint is traditionally used for gas, bloating, and an unsettled stomach. Fresh leaves are also easy to use in everyday food and drinks.

What can I do with mint?

Mint can be used for tea, tincture, cold drinks, and food. A tincture soaks the leaves in alcohol for several weeks to create a concentrated, shelf-stable herbal extract. Fresh or dried leaves also make tea that can be served hot or iced.

Similar herbs: Dill, Basil, Bee Balm

— Scroll down for recipes —

Uses
Digestion — Herbs traditionally used around digestion, appetite, stomach comfort, or after-meal preparations.
Properties

Aromatic — Rich in aromatic oils that often support digestion or breathing

Carminative — Helps relieve gas, bloating, and digestive discomfort

Antispasmodic — Helps relax cramps, spasms, or tight muscles

Energetics
Cooling — Calms heat, irritation, or excess activity. Stimulating — Encourages activity, movement, or circulation.
Look alikes Make sure you are not using pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium).
Mint (Mentha spp.), historical botanical illustration

Growing and using it

How to grow mint

Life cycle

Hardy perennial.

Hardiness

Most common garden mints are hardy in USDA Zones 5–9.

How to start

A common garden mint sold for culinary or herbal use. Choose a known nursery plant, division, or cutting rather than an unidentified wild mint; mint is very easy to propagate vegetatively. Do not use pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium).

Starting from seed

Not the route for a known mint — seed-grown plants vary, and a division or cutting is both quicker and true to the parent.

Harvesting

Once established, leaves can be harvested repeatedly through the growing season; make the main drying harvest before or just as flowering begins.

Grow in zone
Plant out — Move a started plant into its final spot outdoorsPlant out: MayPlant out: JunePlant out: JulyPlant out: AugustPlant out: SeptemberHarvest leaves — Gather leaves in these monthsHarvest leaves: MayHarvest leaves: JuneHarvest leaves: JulyHarvest leaves: AugustHarvest leaves: SeptemberHarvest leaves: October

Cut back hard after flowering for fresh regrowth.

Gardening tools

(Paid links)

Grampa's gardening apronBuyGarden auger drill bit for planting holesBuyPlant protection mesh bagsBuyEspoma Bio-tone starter plant foodBuy
Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants & Herbs of Eastern & Central North AmericaGet book