Mint! My chocolate mint choked out the peppermint and the spearmint.
By writersedge
@writersedge (22563)
United States
September 22, 2010 6:44pm CST
This woman gave me chocolate mint last year. I really didn't know if I would like it. I love my peppermint. I was hoping the peppermint would choke it out like it did some of the spearmint (spearmint tastes like toothpaste to me) or it would go somewhere else and die like the pennyroyal I had. But it backfired. I just find chocolate mint way, way too strong and kind of dull compared to peppermint. I would have liked wintergreen. I would have found some place away from the mint for that.
My husband wants me to make applemint jelly. I would, but I'm afraid the chocolate mint will be too strong or ruin the apples for us. I wish she had shown up with apple mint, lemon mint, anything but that stuff. If it tasted like chocolate, I'd be all excited. I'd give it a garden of its own! It just had a chocolate colored stem and slight brown tinge on some of the leaves.
Also she just calls and asks to come over. I did not have time to make room in my garden where I would put new plants that I'm not so sure about. She just assumed I would plant it then and there in front of her. If she had called the day before. I like to plant as soon as I get a plant so I don't forget it or suddenly get work and not have time, but to call and then come, that's a lot. She's retired and she goes by everyh day on her way to feed her cats (she livs one place and her cats another, long story).
Anyway, have you ever had chocolate mint? Given how strong it is, how do you adjust it down to be more like peppermint strength? What do you use chocolate mint in? Does it go well with real chocolate? Does it go well with something?
If you have no experience with this plant, have you ever had any mint plants? What kinds have you had? What are your favorites and what ones do you not like? If you haven't had the plant in your yard, have you bought cuttings at a store in the produce section or a Farmers' Market? I loved my peppermint as tea, in jelly, and with chocolate. How do you like yours?
2 people like this
5 responses
@LaurenInLA (2270)
• United States
23 Sep 10
I tried chocolate mint in my herb garden and within weeks, it overtook my entire herb garden. When the wind blew, the smell was fabulous but when I tried brewing it in a tea there was not chocolate taste at all. I would only grow it again for the fantastic smell but I didn't find it useful in any other way.
1 person likes this
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
23 Sep 10
So you like it about as much as I do. It does smell fantastic. I was pulling weeds somewhere and I hit a root of it and there was no mistaking it. It's has one powerful smell and it is a really, really pretty plant, but the taste is less than exciting. Not like peppermint or wintergreen. I thought it was just me. So you wouldn't add it to your apples either, huh? Oh well, live and learn. Usually people give you things you want,not things you don't want.
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
22 Sep 10
I never had chocolate mint, but it sounds really good..This is why my spearmint is in my front yard and my peppermint in my back. Is any of your peppermint still good? I know it doesn't help you now, but if there is anyway you can transplant any peppermint far away from the chocolate mint to save it..
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
23 Sep 10
I don't see any that even came up. So unless I find some peppermint, I can't transplant it. I'll keep looking. They do have underground and above ground runners so they could be somewhere else.
If it wasn't so strong and yet non-descript, it would be better. I should have just taken the plant when she came and transplanted it into a pot on my window sill. I'd still have my peppermint now.
Yes, the two mints in two locations is a smart idea. How did you get to be sooo smart?
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
23 Sep 10
Well, I heard somewhere, and I don't know if this is true or if maybe I dreamed it, but if I planted the two close together, they could mutate and take on each others flavor. But like I said, I have o idea, so I didn't take the chance, I already had spearmint in the front, so I just planted my peppermint in the back. Actually, I stand corrected, my spearmint was planted on the right front corner of the house, and has tried to move more towards the front, but I keep pulling it up. The peppermint is planted on side, but in the back..Now it is trying to spread more than former years, so I started pulling those up and trying to transplant them directly in the back because I heard fleas don't like mint..Perfect, if my puppies would quit digging it up.. 
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
23 Sep 10
Maybe they're just trying to help you. Afterall you dug it up, too! Ha, ha, have fun with all your mint. Do you use it? Besides as a flea repellent?
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
23 Sep 10
I have had chocolate mint, and thought it tasted chocolatey. I have had apple mint, but it got killed in a plumbing redig. I thought it just tasted minty, and looked like apple leaves. I have peppermint and spearmint, but personally cannot tell them apart. I love mints. You are supposed to grow pennyroyal in your yard to repel fleas. I have what some call lemon mint, but it is actually lemon balm,(melissa officinalis) related distantly to mint. It is supposed to help repel mosquitoes, but we have a strong breed this month that is more aggressive and determined. I like mint just to smell and to chop and to put in tea. Lemon balm is supposed to be calming as well.
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
23 Sep 10
I wish I could taste the chocolate in it.
Peppermint and spearmint, I can tell apart by the smell and taste. They really do look a lot a like.
Yes, currently penny royal is for anti-fleas, but at one point people did drink it until they found out it could be dangerous to us, too.
I wish something would repel mosquitoes this year, aggressive is an accurate term here, too.
Lemon balm calming, interesing, I always think of chamomile and skullcap (sounds horrible doesn't it?).
Thank you very much for adding to the discussion. I value your experience. Did you boil it and it tasted chocolatey that way? I'm not the only one, a person above you can't taste the chocolate either. Maybe if I had regular mint and then the chocolate mint?
Thanks and take care.
1 person likes this
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
24 Sep 10
In my area, there is a saying, chamomile for women and skullcap for men.
That would be a wonderful walkway. My cats would be rolling in it all day. They'd smell like a mishmash. Not sure if that would smell ok altogether or not.
Thanks and take care.
@cobrateacher (8432)
• United States
23 Sep 10
Hi, Edge!
I'm not anything like the gardener you are, so I've never heard of chocolate mint. I'd imagine you'd just have to use it very sparingly, as sort of a minor ingredient. Then, don't plant it next time!
By the way, you had to go and mention stir-fries. I had to go from there and take every veggie that might think about getting to old any time soon and make a luscious stir-fry. I did it strictly with water and a little agave, so it had no fat in it at all.
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
23 Sep 10
That's s really different stir fry. Did you like it?
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159002)
• Boise, Idaho
24 Sep 10
I have had mint plants in the past. They take over very quickly. Yes, I did have chocolate mint. I like the spearmint the best and never minded when it took over the other types. I know I had chocolate mint and spearmint. Don't remember the others. Very good in teas for stomache problems.
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
24 Sep 10
You're lucky, the one you wanted took over. I wish my peppermint had.
Mint teas are wonderful!
1 person likes this
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
25 Sep 10
Yeah, I had wanted to trade wild and garden foods in my area. I haven't done anything about that. I'll have to think about how I'll go about it.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159002)
• Boise, Idaho
25 Sep 10
I wish you could send me some through the PC lines. I would gladly trade. Yes, mint teas are wonderful!
