The best of Mints: creation of the SCOLD freshness scale

  • February 2017

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Mint, medicinal & aromatic herbs since the 12th century

The Mint Collection story began in Milly-la-Forêt, birth place of medicinal and culinary herbs since the 12th century. During the 1900s, Amand Darbonne, founder of Darégal, brought back a special variety of Mint from his journey to England: the Mitcham Mint, which will later become Milly-la-Forêt’s Peppermint.

 

Mint has established the reputation of a region: Milly-La-Forêt

Mint is said to adapt well to its habitat. Scientists allude to the phenomenon of “phenotic plasticity”. Mint is directly influenced by the environment in which it grows. Like a blotting paper, the Mint’s aromatic profile captures the strengths and weaknesses of a given soil.

Milly-la-Forêt seems to have been particularly gifted in this domain. Benefitting from influences from the Fontainebleau Forest and the Ecole river, its soil nourishes every year the most acclaimed Peppermints in France.

 

55 varieties of Mint classified and reviewed 

The Mint Collection was developed after 3 years of research conducted by our Herbs Sommeliers who picked 5 Mints among the 55 classified.

Following the tasting process, Darégal’s Herbs Sommeliers have created a scale to measure the intensity of freshness, the SCOLD scale, ranging from Fresh green note to the Siberian note.

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Freshness, like spice, is a trigeminal sensation. If the menthol molecule is detected, a fresh message is sent to the brain. The more molecules, the more Freshness Sensation information is sent to the brain, the more intense the cold sensation.

Our Herbs Sommeliers have studied this collection’s gustatory characteristics and have identified 15 typical aromatic notes:

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Discover the Mint’s diversity of flavours

Mint is a culinary herb often used in dishes to bring fresh notes and a wide range of flavours, whether brewed or incorporated.

We have developed the Mint Collection by Darégal to meet the gustatory plurality expectations for this major ingredient. This collection allows for unique culinary uses with innovative flavours and visuals.

 

We shall uncover the 5 exceptional Mints selected by Darégal:

 

Each of the Mints featured in our collection is the fruit of lengthy research, open field cultivation, organoleptic tests and manufacturing. This process relies on expertise built over more than 129 years.

Feel free to contact our sales engineers if you would like more information regarding the Mint Collection by Darégal, you can ask for your discovered samples.