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Peppermint

Chapter 14: PEPPERMINT OIL AND MENTHOL.
By Alice Henkel
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About This Book

The bulletin provides a practical overview of peppermint: botanical description and distinctions among common varieties, methods of propagation, and the regions where it is grown worldwide and in the United States. It details cultivation practices, hazards to the crop, harvesting and on‑farm distillation procedures including still design, and the chemistry and uses of peppermint oil and menthol. Historical and commercial aspects are discussed, including export markets, price trends, and an episode of market control that affected production. Illustrations supplement the text with depictions of runners, leaves, flowering tops, and a typical still.

PEPPERMINT OIL AND MENTHOL.

Peppermint leaves and flowering tops are official in the Eighth Decennial Revision of the United States Pharmacopœia, as are likewise the following products and preparations derived from these parts: Oil of peppermint, menthol, spirit of peppermint, and peppermint water.

The United States Pharmacopœia describes oil of peppermint as “a colorless liquid, having the characteristic strong odor of peppermint and a strongly aromatic pungent taste, followed by a sensation of cold when air is drawn into the mouth.” It is largely used in medicine, internally as a stimulant and carminative, and externally to relieve neuralgic and rheumatic conditions. It is also used for flavoring and scenting confectionery, cordials, and cosmetics. There is a slight difference in the odor of white and black peppermint oil, the black being more pungent and less agreeable in fragrance than the white, which has a much finer odor, but, as already indicated, the white mint is less hardy than the black and yields a smaller quantity of oil.

The Japanese oil of peppermint, which, as pointed out elsewhere in these pages, is obtained from a different species of mint than that which produces the true oil of peppermint, is very inferior to the last named. It has a very unpleasant odor and a bitter, disagreeable taste, but it is a heavy oil and contains a higher percentage of menthol and, being a very much cheaper oil, it is liable to be used as an adulterant of true peppermint oil.

Menthol, formerly known as peppermint camphor, is the solid constituent of oil of peppermint, obtained by subjecting the distilled oil to an exceedingly low temperature by means of a freezing mixture. Its properties are about the same as those of oil of peppermint, only somewhat intensified. It is very largely made up into cones or pencils, which furnish a popular remedy, to be applied externally or inhaled, for the relief of headache, neuralgia, catarrh, asthma, and kindred affections. It is also largely employed in other forms of medication. The name “pipmenthol” has been applied to the menthol obtained from the American oil, to distinguish it from the Japanese menthol. Pipmenthol is said to have a distinct odor of peppermint, while the Japanese menthol has but a slight peppermint odor.