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Not everyone likes mint with a strong aggressive smell. If the plant is used for treatment, you can not get away from the aroma of menthol. In cooking, you can and should look for products that are pleasant and enjoyable. Strawberry mint does not hit the taste buds, it gently and unobtrusively sets off the dish or drink, adding notes of freshness and strawberries 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 rises, physical and psycho-emotional stress is relieved, the overall resistance of the body to diseases and infections increases. Aromatic herbs are also used in cooking.
Different types of mint gave rise to varieties with original smells:
- peppery may have a citrus or chocolate flavor;
- round-leaved served as the basis for a variety with a pineapple smell;
- field – banana;
- spiky includes the Almira variety with a strawberry aroma.
Among the listed varieties, only citrus or chocolate notes of peppermint are accompanied by a strong menthol smell. The content of this substance in other varieties is low, but still dominates, although not so much.
Description of strawberry mint
Spearmint Almira (Menthaspicata Almira) is a herbaceous perennial plant with the aerial part dying off for 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.
Strawberry mint Almira has small, green, ovate-oblong opposite leaves with distinct veins, a sharp tip and slightly serrated edges. Petioles are short, few hairs are concentrated on the lower part of the plate or absent altogether.
Strawberry mint flowers are purple, concentrated in the axils of the upper leaves. They form a thin intermittent ear, which in summer in an open area often burns out and becomes pale. Flowering begins at the end of May, attracts bees and butterflies to the site.
The rhizomes of strawberry mint are thin, horizontal. They grow rapidly, forming entire colonies. The Almira variety is often grown as a groundcover.
Spearmint with strawberry flavor contains very little menthol. It was not included in the list of plants recognized by official medicine as medicinal, but contains vitamins, minerals and essential oils. It can be used to maintain the general tone of the body, relieve fatigue, 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, headache, fatigue.
What is the aroma of strawberry mint
The aroma of strawberry mint cannot compete in richness with the strong, to the point of obsession, peppermint aroma. But it is light, pleasant, and does not cause headaches in people who do not tolerate menthol.
Strawberry mint Almira, according to culinary experts and tasters, has a pleasant berry aroma of strawberries with hints of chocolate. It is devoid of cold shades, like pepper.
The use of strawberry mint in cooking
Leaves and flowers are used to make desserts, sauces, fruit salads. Strawberry mint gives the drinks a unique light flavor. It is often added to lemonade and cocktails.
Mint Almira does not drown out other smells, but sets them off. The small fragrant leaves are great for garnishing ready meals.
Where can you add strawberry mint
A tea made from mint, which has a strawberry flavor, relieves fatigue and irritable bowel syndrome, relieves sore throats. For a small cup, it is enough to add 2-3 fresh leaves or 1/4 teaspoon of dry ones.
Almira mint, in addition to cooking, is used as follows:
- dry grass can be brewed and added to baths with muscle and nervous tension;
- a bunch of spearmint hung in the room of a hyperactive child will help him fall asleep and will not irritate with menthol aroma;
- fresh or dry herbs are added to self-made lotions, masks, soaps;
- strawberry mint is useful as a fragrance in the bath;
- leaves can be rubbed on the temples and palms before work that requires concentration or while preparing for exams.
Rules of landing
Mint Almira with strawberry aroma puts up with partial shade. In the south, it is generally better not to plant it in an open place, otherwise:
- greens and flowers burn out, turn pale;
- decorativeness is reduced;
- for salads and drinks it is difficult to find beautiful leaves;
- there is a loss of essential oils;
- it becomes impossible to prepare mint for the winter.
Any soil that is not too acidic will do. But the culture grows better on drained, fertile, moist soils.
A 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 finish 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, the site is dug up, weed roots are selected. The earth needs to be well loosened, to break all the clods. If the bed does not have time to sink, it is rolled up.
Landing algorithm:
- Strips are cut with a depth of 5-8 cm, watered abundantly.
- Spread mint rhizomes in a row and cover with soil.
- Seal the fit.
Further care – watering, removing weeds. It is impossible to loosen the soil – the root system of strawberry mint is superficial.
The variety is suitable for planting in a container. If the container is small, the mint will grow weak, with thin shoots, and is unlikely to bloom. But greens for tea or salad will give.
Garden soil is not suitable for a pot, you need to buy a universal one based on peat. Drainage is placed at the bottom. Carefully monitor 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 until spring in open ground or brought into the house.
Features of cultivation and care
Spearmint is called garden mint and is more often than other species used in landscaping. It is unpretentious, frost-resistant and grows well. The Almira variety differs from the mother culture in its compact shape, strawberry aroma and small leaves that burn easily in the bright sun.
The plant needs regular watering. Top dressing on fertile soil can be carried out 2 times a year:
- early spring nitrogen;
- in late summer or early autumn – phosphorus and potassium.
Weeding strawberry mint is carried out manually, the soil is not loosened. Transplanted to another place every 3 years. They 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 make drinks, desserts, other dishes or decorate them, folk methods have to be fought against insects. Culture is often affected:
- mint leaf beetle;
- cicadas;
- aphids;
- weevils;
- mint flea;
- penny;
- ticks.
Among the diseases are:
- powdery mildew;
- rust;
- spotting;
- verticillium wilt;
- mycoplasma (root growth).
To do without chemistry, mint is regularly transplanted, dried stems are removed from the site in the fall.
When and how to harvest strawberry mint
Mint leaves for fresh use are plucked as needed. To prepare raw materials with strawberry flavor for tea or sauces for autumn and winter, cut off the upper part of the plants 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 decade of June. It is not worth delaying, because in July fungal spores become active, and the mint begins to hurt.
How to dry strawberry mint
Shoots can be dried in bunches, hanging in a hot, well-ventilated area without access to the sun. Ready for storage, mint is placed in tightly closed cardboard boxes.
If there is time, the leaves are cut 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 closed 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.
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