Water mint or Mentha aquatica is also called marsh mint, apple mint, bergamot mint, water peppermint, wild peppermint or hairy mint. It’s called cartal, cartloin or cartlainn in Gaeilge and cairteal in Scots Gaelic. These names likely came from the word cartam which means ‘to cleanse‘. The common garden peppermint we know of today originated in England sometime in the 17th century and is a hybrid between mentha aquatica and mentha spicata (spearmint). I’ve included water mint here because it would have been a very native species as well as one that can be foraged but for the sake of logistics, I’m casting a wider net in regards to any ‘mint’ on the whole used at the time and its wide range of medicinal uses. 

There are hundreds of cultivated mint plant varieties and they all have similar medicinal properties. To say mint is one of my favorites is an understatement. I find watermint to be incredibly delicious, much more so than the mainstream spearmint and peppermint varieties. The flowers are also beautiful and popular with pollinators, flourishing in areas along waterways often lacking in blossomed plants. Naturally, I particularly love the flavor of most mint species but also the soothing, calming and digestive tonic functions. 

Dioscorides mentioned mint being used to treat vomiting, hiccups, swellings, wounds and interestingly as causing ‘inconception’ when rubbed on a woman before intercourse. Water mint’s use was likely somewhat unanimous throughout Europe. Unspecified varieties of mint in general were used in Ireland to treat, colds¹, jaundice², headache³, anemia⁴, stomach ailments⁵ and for generalized good health⁶ as well as used for flavoring⁷. It was said that “Wild mint, which grows luxuriantly in boggy land not only makes the surrounding air fragrant, but when chopped up finely and put in soup imparts to it a pleasant flavour.” 

A syrup was made of honeysuckle, water-cress and water mint that was said to help coughs in particular.⁸ Mint tied around the waist and wrist was often used as a way to ward off the ‘evil eye’, stomach ailments or other infectious diseases.⁹ An old Irish love charm involved a man taking a sprig of mint in his hand, holding it until it warmed and then holding his lover’s hand with the sprig placed in between. Both parties remained silent for ten minutes and afterwards it was said that she would follow him forever.¹⁰ 

Lady Wilde mentioned mint as one of the herbs to be gathered on May Day… “Gather foxglove, raspberry leaves, wild marjoram, mint, camomile and valerian: mix them with butter made on May Day and let the herbs also be gathered on May Day. Boil them together with honey: then rub the vessel into which the bees should gather, both inside and out, with the mixture; place it in the middle of a tree, and the bees will soon come. Foxglove or “fairy fingers” is called “the great herb” from its wondrous properties.” Water mint stands out in particular because it’s claimed to be one of the ‘three sacred herbs’ of the Druids along with meadowsweet and vervain.¹¹ 

It was overall similarly and additionally used in Scotland, Wales and England to treat colds and cough, worms, scarring, acne, dog bites, headache, poisons, as a liver, heart, blood, kidney tonic as well as stomach and digestive ailments .^13,14,15

Water mint is in the Lamiaceae family and native to Europe, Britain, Ireland, southwest Asia and northwest Africa and has been somewhat naturalized in North America. Watermint and most mints have symmetrical veiny smooth leaves with small purple flowers that typically bloom from midsummer through late summer and it may have been associated with the Summer Solstice or Lughnasadh. It’s a perennial in zones 4 through 11, grows up to 90 cm or 36 in tall and does well in full sun and moist soil. Mint’s energy is cool and dry. The leaves are edible and have a pungent mint flavor. It’s most commonly used as an infusion, tincture, extract, decoction or mouth wash. 

Benefits

analgesic, anthelmintic, antibacterial, anticancer and antitumor, antifungal, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antispasmodic, antiviral, astringent, carminative, digestion tonic, liver tonic, neurostimulant, skin tonic

Recipe

Mint Vinegar of the Four Thieves  

This vinegar recipe was adapted from the book “The Toilet of Flora” written in 1779 by an unknown author. It was thought to be powerful enough to protect thieves from illness and in particular, those who were robbing plague victims.

Ingredients: Ounce and a half of each of the following: wormwood, rosemary, sage, mint and rue. Two ounces of each of the following: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and garlic. One gallon of red wine vinegar.

Instructions: Grind or chop up all herbs and place inside a gallon of red wine vinegar. Let sit for up to four weeks, shaking occasionally. Strain and it’s ready for use as a vinaigrette.

References

1. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0239, Page 017
2. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0209, Page 408
3. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0909, Page 538
4. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0345, Page 008
5. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0842, Page 055
6. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0277, Page 248
7. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0787, Page 278
8. Allen, David and Hatfield, Gabrielle, Medicinal Plants in Folk Tradition: An Ethnobotany of Britain & Ireland, Timber Press, pg. 238.
9. Scallan, Christine, Irish Herbal Cures, Gill & Macmillan, 1994, pg 70.
10. Wilde, Lady, Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland: with sketches of the Irish past, pg. 202.
11. Hoffman, George Niles, The Pharmaceutical Era, Volume 55, 1922, pg. 176.
12. Van Arsdall, Anne, Medieval Herbal Remedies, The Old English Herbarium and Anglo-Saxon Medicine, (5th century original text), pg. 196.
13. Kerr, Ralph Whiteside, Herbalism Through the Ages, pg. 224.
14. Culpeper, Nicolas. Culpeper’s Complete Herbal. 1653. Pg. 234.