If you love the refreshing zing of mint, you will be delighted to know there is a huge choice of different mints to grow for use in the kitchen. Unexpected flavoured mints from lime to lavender, lemon, sweet apple and orange, can be used to make herbal teas, hot or iced, to flavour fruit salads, cakes, make delicious sauces or add zing to salads and vegetable dishes. Each has a wonderful scent to match the flavour - herbal aromatherapy at its best!

Growing instructions

Most mints appreciate moist soil enriched with compost and a light, sunny, mostly shaded situation. Growing them in large pots will prevent them from spreading too far in the garden - an old bath is the perfect container to let mints grow free - allowing them to ramble over each other. Make more mint by making cuttings and dividing roots. A cutting is a small piece of stem, usually with leaves, that is taken from a mature herb; it's a great way to make a new plant from a friend's garden to add to your collection. It is an easy technique that once you've mastered will save you buying plants each year.

In the kitchen

Add mint to salads, infuse in teas, add to summer drinks and chop up in tabouii or, of course, make into mint jelly sauces as the perfect accompaniment to lamb.

You could even try this Vietnamese barbecue salad - mix the juice of a few limes with sugar to taste, add a few drops of fish sauce and sesame oil, and a finely sliced chilli. Let sit a while, adjust flavourings, then pour over cold vermicelli noodles, shredded salad vegetables and chopped mint. Top with chopped peanuts, and serve with sliced barbecued meats.

There are many different flavours to choose from - spearmint, Moroccan, lime, lemon, peppermint, Vietnamese mint, apple mint and pineapple mint. Great infused in teas and drinks you can harvest the leaves as they are needed.

Mint tips

• Herbs, like mint, strike easily from a small piece of stem put in a glass on the windowsill. Protect newly made cuttings from the winter cold in a glasshouse or specially made glass cloche.
• Mint has antiseptic qualities - used as a mouth freshener, in gargles and mouth washes.
• Spearmint and peppermint aid digestion and an infusion of Moroccan mint into hot water can relieve anxiety and tension.
• Did you know that planting mint can discourage rats and mice from coming into your garden?
• Eau-De-Cologne mint has the truly refreshing, cool fragrance of eau-de-cologne. Crush a few leaves and rub your forehead for instant refreshment and to relieve a heat headache. Or throw a handful into the bathtub.
• Lime mint is a mint that combines the fresh clean fragrance of Jamaican limes with sweet mint! Sensational in fruit salads and summer punches and perfect with tomato salads, to garnish grilled fish and chicken dishes, to add to iced summer soups, and finely chopped with orange zest added to sweet scones, pancakes and muffins.

This information kindly provided by the Nursery and Garden Industry Australia.