On Food and Cooking

Thyme Thymus    vulgaris

Both of the major culinary mints have a
refreshing quality, but they are quite different.
Spearmint has a distinctive aroma thanks to a
particular terpene, L-carvone, and a richness
and complexity thanks to pyridines, nitrogen-
containing compounds more typical of roasted
foods than raw ones. Spearmint is widely used
in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as in
India and Southeast Asia, in large quantities,
both fresh and cooked, and in both sweet and
savory contexts. Simpler, clearer-tasting
peppermint contains little or no carvone or
pyridines; instead it makes a terpene called
menthol, which gives it a uniquely cooling
quality. In addition to having its own aroma,
menthol actually binds to receptors on
temperature-sensing nerve cells in the mouth,
and causes those cells to signal the brain that
they are cooler than they really are by 7–
13ºF/4–7ºC. Menthol is a reactive chemical