Mint and Water Nymphs

Last Spring while I was out hunting for wild mint I came across a water nymph. I told her that I was looking for some fresh mentuccia (peppermint) to use in a zucchini fritatta and to serve as the base for a nice batch of mint chocolate chip ice cream and she told me the story of the origins of spearmint:

“My sister Minthe was a beautiful water nymph like me. Unfortunately she started hanging out with a bad crew of kids in high school and ended up having an affair with a married man.

Well, it turns out this married man was acutally the ruler of the Greek underworld, Hades (whose street name was Pluto), and he was married to the goddess Persephone. Minthe never was much of a liar and it turns out she wasn’t very good at being clandestine either. One night, Persephone discovered my big sis with her husband…ahem…in the throes of passion if you will.

Naturally Persephone was not all too happy about her husband’s affair and began to stomp all over my sister and kick her too! Magically Minthe turned into a plant (now known as mint), and with each of Persephone’s kicks and stomps, like a moan, Minthe let out a delightful aroma. And that’s why mint is called what it is to this day.

Obviously, I’m not going to tell you where to find my sister because then you’ll pick her and cook her, and, well that just wouldn’t be very nice at all–would it?!”