Time to Plant Your Own Mint!

The popularity of mojitos is reaching epidemic proportions. The source? Elian Gonzalez – the mojito was never popular until he floated over. Like Elian’s family status, the mojito has been subjected to a barrage of interpretations. The endless combination of rums, syrups, spices, and, most recently, purees has resulted in history’s most widespread, non-traditional interpretation of a singular cocktail’s possibilities. However, despite these numerous modifications, the most distinguishing ingredient, in the mojito receives disproportionate attention.

Mint is often mistakenly viewed as a singular flavor, not a type of herb. While mint has a recognizable aroma and impact when used in cocktails and cooking, the world’s over 500 species of mint are anything but uniform. Tea enthusiasts use several varieties of mint and can be a great source of information, but cocktail enthusiasts generally only recognize the distinction between peppermint and spearmint. This limits the potential for flavors ranging from apple to chocolate.

The practice of growing certain mint types for use in cocktails is not a new concept. The variation known commonly as “Kentucky Colonel” is a blend of spearmint and apple-flavored mint. This type of mint is used to flavored mint juleps at the Kentucky Derby and should be specifically sought by all julep fans.
Cocktail purists can track down Yerba Buena for their mojitos. This type of mint is the most widespread variation found on Cuba, where the mojito was invented, and therefore presents the most original drink flavors. Several species of mint are commonly confused for Yerba Buena, so be sure to look specifically for Clinopodium douglasii. This type of mint can also be found growing wild along Pacific coastal areas.

CORRECTION BREAK! (5-7-07)
I had researched mint a while back when I was attempting my own mint project and think I got some bad information off a website. As admitted later in this post, I know absolutely nothing about plants. Generally, they are green; they need water and sun to grow. That’s about it! So, I was unable to catch some errors I made when writing this essay. Fortunately, Erik E. (I leave his last name to respect his privacy) sent me an e-mail with some excellent information. Never shy to show that I am in no way an expert when it comes to cocktails (I’m just putting my thoughts out there) or plants, here is Erik’s correction:
Hi Robert,

Saw your blog post about mint.

While I thought it was fun, I did notice one little problem.

As a plant guy, I have to warn you to beware of common names. The same plant can be named different things in different areas or different plants can have the same name.

A bunch of different mint-like plants were named “Yerba Buena” by Spanish
Missionaries in various parts of the world. The term really just means “Good Herb”, and seems to have been applied fairly indiscriminately to medicinally useful plants introduced to the missionaries by the native peoples of the various lands they arrived in.

The West Coast perennial herb, Clinopodium douglasii(Satureja douglasii), while an interesting plant which might make an interesting cocktail, is absolutely not the same as the plant called “Yerba Buena” in Cuba.

The Yerba Buena in Cuba is very much a mint. It is much closer to Spearmint in flavor than Clinopodium douglasii. As the West Coast Yerba Buena is a finicky plant, which tends to faint and die when things get too hot or dry, there is no way it would even grow in Cuba.

By the way, it’s a bit funny this came up now, as I was just talking with another San Francisco cocktail enthusiast about using the West Coast Yerba Buena for aspecial West Coast Mojito.

Anyway, as the settlement which eventually became San Francisco was originally called “Yerba Buena”, it is something of a personal interest to me.

Regards,
Erik E.
San Francisco

Thanks Erik - you have been extremely helpful and made this post much more informative!

This may sound like a lot of work for minimal distinctions, but remember, the best cocktails are a combination of subtleties that merge, forming amazing flavors and complexity. Additionally, mint is one of the easiest and cheapest perennials to grow. Once planted, it will grow rapidly. If anything, the greatest concern is that mint might take over your garden. If you are plant inept, like me, here are the 5 specific steps to growing mint:

1. Find a place where mint can take over – it will! The best conditions have partial shade with moist, moderately rich, slightly acid soil, but it can grow just about anywhere.
2. Plant your mint early in the spring – the sooner the better. You can find mint at the nursery, but can order the more specific types discussed above online.
3. Plant the mint 12 to 18 inches apart.
4. Keep the soil moist until the plants are established.
5. Pinch stem ends off each spring to keep plants bushy. At the end of the gardening season, prune plants back to near ground level and top-dress with compost (http://www.ehow.com/how_320_grow-mint.html).

If you like mojitos and juleps, save some cash, add some flavor, and if you’re a nighttime bartender, get some sunlight by growing your own mint. Like all drink ingredients, fresher mint makes better cocktails. You will be impressed by the difference the freshness and variety growing your own mint has to offer. The legal drinking age in Cuba is 18, but it is never enforced. Elian Gonzalez is probably drinking Yerba Buena mojitos right now - try one yourself!