Essence of the Day - Peppermint

When I first had a whiff of peppermint’s essential oil, the scent reminds me of this minty sweets that I used to buy. I love the fact that those minty sweets always leave me feeling refreshed every time I have them in my mouth. I have been growing a type of mint in our garden since August 2020 and I wondered if mint and peppermint are of the same species. According to Wikipedia, peppermint is a hybrid mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world. Ah-ha, I guess the one I have in my garden could either be spearmint or peppermint or watermint. Regardless, I still love the smell of these mint families.

I looked up for peppermint in my “Perubatan Rasulullah” book but couldn’t find any mention of peppermint in it. The closest to peppermint I reckon was hibq and or raihan. According to the author, “Every plant that has a good scent is called raihān. Therefore, every area gives a certain plant that name. For instance, the people of the West, as well as the Arabs, call the aromatic plants raihān. The people in Iraq and Sham call the hibq (a type of mint) a raihān.” 

Robert Thomson, in “The Grosset Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine” (1980) described peppermint as “Very hot in nature, peppermint may be used to advantage to promote perspiration and overpower the cold.” I could attest to this from my experience applying peppermint oil topically during one of my period cramps. It was heaty at first application yet left a note of cold in the end, leaving that refresh and relieve feeling. 

 

Peppermint fragrance may influence in purifying and stimulating to the conscious mind. Research indicates that peppermint aroma, inhaled during mental tasks, may help attention, performance, and focus (Barker, et al., 2003). It may also be an effective appetite suppressant when inhaled (Hirsch and Gomez, 1995). So that refreshing feeling I had every time I had one of those sweets is consistent with these studies. Wow! What an amazing scent this is!