The ancient Greeks have a legend about mint. Mint, or Minthe, was once a beautiful nymph from the underworld river of Cocytus. She was said to be of nobler form and more beautiful than Persephone, queen of the underworld herself. Hades, the god of the underworld and husband to Persephone, became infatuated by the young river maid after she made an attempt to seduce him. The wife of Hades was enraged by the nymph, and intervened by trampling the girl under her heel into nothing more than dust. Sorrowful for the loss of the young girl, Hades brought her back to life with his power as a fragrant mint plant.
The association between mint and the underworld came about from ancient burial traditions that used mint to cover up the smell of the dead. The aromatic leaves have also been used historically to mask the odors of households and alleyways due to inadequate sanitation. On top of that, mint was greatly admired for its ability to freshen the breath and clear body odors in a time when bathing wasn’t widely practiced. The mint plant was so highly regarded for its power to cleanse that mint was commonly used as a form of currency in Egypt during Biblical times.
Modern Mint Production
Mint plants are incredibly fast-growing herbaceous perennials, and are actually known to be rather invasive plants, which makes commercial cultivation relatively easy. Commercial…
