Content
- 1 Mint with original flavors
- 2 Description of strawberry mint
- 3 What is the scent of strawberry mint?
- 4 Use of strawberry mint in cooking
- 5 Where can you add strawberry mint?
- 6 Landing rules
- 7 Features of cultivation and care
- 8 Pests and diseases
- 9 When and how to collect strawberry mint
- 10 Conclusion
- 11 Reviews
Not everyone likes mint with a strong aggressive smell. If the plant is used for treatment, you cannot escape the aroma of menthol. In cooking, you can and should look for products that are pleasant and bring pleasure. Strawberry mint does not strike the taste buds; it gently and unobtrusively sets off a dish or drink, adding notes of freshness and strawberry to it.
Mint with original flavors
One of the areas of mint breeding is the creation of varieties with the smells of spices, fruits and berries. They are especially popular in spicy-aromatic flower beds. If a person is nearby for 15-20 minutes, his mood improves, physical and psycho-emotional stress is relieved, and the body’s overall resistance to diseases and infections increases. Aromatic herbs are also used in cooking.
Different types of mint gave rise to varieties with original smells:
- pepper may have a citrus or chocolate aroma;
- round-leaved served as the basis for a variety with a pineapple scent;
- field - banana;
- spicate includes the Almira variety with strawberry aroma.
Among the varieties listed, only the citrus or chocolate notes of peppermint are accompanied by a strong menthol scent. The content of this substance in other varieties is low, but still dominates, although not as strongly.
Description of strawberry mint
Almira spearmint (Menthaspicata Almira) is a herbaceous perennial plant with the above-ground part dying off in the winter. Forms a compact bush up to 40 cm high. If the shoots are constantly pinched, it grows well in width. Stems are straight, bare.
Almira strawberry-scented mint has small, green, ovate-oblong opposite leaves with distinct veins, a sharp tip and faint teeth along the edge. The petioles are short, a few hairs are concentrated on the lower part of the plate or are completely absent.
Strawberry mint flowers are purple, concentrated in the axils of the upper leaves. They form a thin, intermittent spike, which in summer in an open area often fades and becomes pale. Flowering begins at the end of May and attracts bees and butterflies to the area.
The rhizomes of strawberry mint are thin and horizontal. They grow quickly, forming entire colonies. The Almira variety is often grown as a ground cover.
Spearmint with a strawberry aroma contains very little menthol. It is not included in the list of plants recognized by official medicine as medicinal, but it contains vitamins, minerals and essential oils. Can be used to maintain general body tone, relieve fatigue, and in the initial stages of colds.
The main value of strawberry mint as a garden plant is its aromatic properties. An unobtrusive pleasant smell, which intensifies when the leaves are damaged, relieves depression, headaches, and fatigue.
What is the scent of strawberry mint?
The smell of strawberry mint cannot compete in richness with the aroma of pepper, strong to the point of obsession. But it is light, pleasant, and does not cause headaches in people who do not tolerate menthol well.
Strawberry mint Almira, according to reviews from cooks and tasters, has a pleasant berry aroma of strawberries with notes of chocolate. It is devoid of cold shades, like pepper.
Use of strawberry mint in cooking
Leaves and flowers are used to prepare desserts, sauces, and fruit salads. Strawberry mint gives drinks a unique light aroma. It is often added to lemonade and cocktails.
Almira mint does not drown out other odors, but sets them off. The small, aromatic leaves are great for garnishing prepared dishes.
Where can you add strawberry mint?
Tea made from mint, which has a strawberry aroma, relieves fatigue and irritable bowel syndrome, and relieves sore throat. For a small cup, it is enough to add 2-3 fresh leaves or 1/4 teaspoon of dry ones.
Apart from cooking, Almira mint is used in the following ways:
- dry herbs can be brewed and added to baths for muscle and nervous tension;
- a bunch of spearmint hung in a hyperactive child’s room will help him fall asleep and will not irritate him with the menthol aroma;
- fresh or dry herbs are added to self-prepared lotions, masks, and soaps;
- strawberry mint is useful as a scent in the bath;
- The leaves can be rubbed on your temples and palms before work that requires concentration or while preparing for exams.
Landing rules
Almira mint with a strawberry aroma tolerates partial shade. In the south it is generally better not to plant it in an open place, otherwise:
- greenery and flowers fade and turn pale;
- decorativeness is reduced;
- It’s hard to find beautiful leaves for salads and drinks;
- loss of essential oils occurs;
- It becomes impossible to prepare mint for the winter.
Any soil that is not too acidic will do. But the crop grows better on drained, fertile, moist soils.
The variety is planted at the beginning of the growing season, as soon as the ground thaws and warms up. If in the south it was not possible to complete the work before the onset of heat, it is better to postpone it to early autumn. Mint rhizomes come close to the surface and, without having time to take root, will die from overheating or drought.
Before planting, dig up the area and remove the roots of the weeds. The earth needs to be loosened well and all clods broken up. If the bed does not have time to sag, it is rolled down.
Landing algorithm:
- Cut strips 5-8 cm deep and water generously.
- Place mint rhizomes in a row and cover with soil.
- Seal the landing.
Further care - watering, removing weeds.You cannot loosen the soil - the root system of strawberry mint is superficial.
The variety is suitable for planting in containers. If the container is small, the mint will grow weak, with thin shoots, and is unlikely to bloom. But greens will do for tea or salad.
Garden soil is not suitable for the pot; you need to buy universal peat-based soil. Drainage is placed at the bottom. Carefully ensure that the substrate does not dry out and the water in the container does not stagnate.
At the end of the season, strawberry mint is transplanted into open ground or brought into the house until spring.
Features of cultivation and care
Spearmint is called garden mint and is used more often than other types in landscaping. It is unpretentious, frost-resistant and grows well. The Almira variety differs from the mother crop in its compact shape, strawberry aroma and small leaves that burn easily in the bright sun.
The plant needs regular watering. Fertilizing on fertile soil can be done 2 times a year:
- early spring nitrogen;
- at the end of summer or beginning of autumn - phosphorus and potassium.
Weeding of strawberry mint is carried out manually, the soil is not loosened. Transplanted to another place every 3 years. Cover with spruce branches or fallen leaves only during cold, snowless winters.
Pests and diseases
Strawberry mint has many pests. If leaves and flowers are used to prepare drinks, desserts, other dishes or to decorate them, insects must be controlled using traditional methods. Culture is often affected by:
- mint leaf beetle;
- leafhoppers;
- aphids;
- weevils;
- mint flea;
- pennies;
- with pincers.
Among the diseases are:
- powdery mildew;
- rust;
- spotting;
- verticillium wilt;
- mycoplasma (root growth).
To avoid chemicals, mint is regularly replanted, and dried stems are removed from the site in the fall.
When and how to collect strawberry mint
For fresh consumption, mint leaves are picked as needed. To prepare strawberry-flavored raw materials for tea or sauces for autumn and winter, the top part of the plants is cut off on a hot sunny day. It is in such weather that the content of aromatic substances reaches its maximum.
The highest quality raw materials from mint are obtained at the beginning of flowering. For most regions, this is the end of August or the first ten days of June. You shouldn’t delay it, as in July, fungal spores become active and the mint starts to hurt.
How to properly dry strawberry mint
The shoots can be dried in bunches by hanging them in a hot, well-ventilated area away from the sun. Mint ready for storage is placed in tightly closed cardboard boxes.
If there is time, the leaves are torn off immediately after harvesting and laid out on white paper. You can cover the newspaper with clean gauze in two layers. Store dry leaves in a tightly sealed glass container.
Conclusion
Strawberry mint is an unpretentious plant with a delicate aroma. It can be grown under trees with an openwork crown, in containers, in flower beds or beds with other aromatic plants.
Reviews
