Egyptian Mint - Mentha nilaca

After a few years of over summer success growing ‘Mint 1’ in our location- which is great but has a fairly distinct peppermint scent and flavor we asked ourselves what other true mints might be out there that can tolerate our hot and humid climate as reliably perennial BUT has a more sweet/spearmint type scent and flavor profile. So with that in mind we obtained several mint cultivars and species and ran them through the wringer that is central Floridas climate. Many hung on but lacked vigor and most fell apart completely when the daily rains really cranked up. Out of those, one that genuinely surprised us stood out - Egyptian mint! This variety is likely a complex hybrid of mint species (definitely shares some traits with the more common apple mint) and is extremely upright with beefy stems and large fuzzy leaves- we assumed the fuzzy leaves would be its downfall (lots of fuzzy leaved plants get bogged down with fungus and other pathogens by humidity in the summer here) but due to its more upright open growth habit it seems to hang in there just fine- as with all Mediterranean species in our climate planting location can help a ton with longevity- a spot that gets good airflow and some sun end of day to help things dry out after our summer rains can make a huge difference. We hope this variety can lend itself as a culinary companion to ‘Mint 1’ as they’re distinct in flavor and scent and gives you more minty versatility!