Apple Mint vs. Peppermint: Two Mints With Different Chemistry

Can apple mint stand in for peppermint? Not if you’re after that cold, clean bite: they’re both mints, but they don’t run on the same chemistry. Peppermint is a menthol mint, with an oil built on menthol and menthone. Apple mint, in most oils analyzed, leads with a different compound, piperitenone oxide,¹ and it’s mild enough that one spice reference finds it barely minty.² It’s the gentler herb, at home in fruit salads, drinks and tea, while peppermint owns candy and chocolate.

Side by side

The difference that matters: what is in the oil

The two sets of oil figures below aren’t the same kind of number, so read them separately.

Peppermint has a published quality range. The European Pharmacopoeia, quoted in the European Medicines Agency’s assessment, sets menthol at 30–55% and menthone at 14–32% of peppermint oil, and caps pulegone at 3%.⁹ One peppermint oil tabulated in a 2018 review had 29–48% menthol.⁸

Apple mint has no such standard. A 2015 review of M. suaveolens oils sorts them into three broad profiles: one rich in pulegone, one rich in piperitenone oxide, and one with similar amounts of piperitenone oxide and piperitone oxide.¹ Some of the individual samples in that review:

Source: Božović, Pirolli and Ragno, 2015.¹ These are single samples from different studies, not a typical apple mint value, so don’t hold them up against the Pharmacopoeia range as if they measured the same thing. They do point the same way, though: menthol defines peppermint and only shows up now and then in apple mint. You’ll often read that both mints get their flavor mainly from menthol. For apple mint, the sources we reviewed don’t back that up.

What that means in the kitchen:

• Coolness. If a recipe depends on peppermint’s cold, clean bite (peppermint bark, a peppermint tea, mint chocolate), apple mint won’t deliver it.
• Strength. Apple mint is the gentler herb. Katzer calls it very mild and only slightly minty, and says it doesn’t remind him of apples, although the RHS describes its leaves as apple-scented.²⁴

Leaves and looks

Apple mint’s leaves are rounded and softly hairy. It also goes by woolly mint, and its leaves are hairy on top and often gray- or white-felted. Peppermint has the familiar square stems and stalked, dark green leaves of the mint family. To garnish a plate or a drink, peppermint’s smooth leaves look more like what people expect. Apple mint’s fuzzy leaves are better chopped or used as small tips. You’ll also hear that apple mint is named for the round shape of its leaves, but we found no source for that.

How each is used

• Apple mint. Katzer says apple mint and pineapple mint are used more as tea herbs than for cooking.² It’s mild, so it suits fruit salads, drinks and yogurt sauces where you want just a little mint.
• Peppermint. By Katzer’s account, true peppermint goes almost entirely into confectionery and sweet liqueurs, and its freshness is terrific with chocolate.² The leaves are typically used fresh and the oil for flavoring. For baking, most cooks reach for peppermint extract, which carries the oil. McCormick’s lists alcohol, water and oil of peppermint.¹⁰
• Both. Mint is one of the delicate herbs best added near the end of cooking, since long heat costs them flavor and aroma. America’s Test Kitchen lists mint among the herbs that lose a lot of flavor when dried.¹¹

Tea and digestion

Peppermint has a formal medicinal standing that apple mint doesn’t. The EMA accepts peppermint leaf as a traditional herbal medicine for indigestion and flatulence in adults and children over 4, based on long-standing use, not clinical trials.¹² NCCIH says peppermint tea appears to be safe, and that very little research has been done on peppermint leaf.⁷ We found no regulator review of apple mint leaf at all, and the health research on M. suaveolens is about its oil in lab tests.¹ We’re not suggesting either herb as a treatment.

Can one stand in for the other?

More options are on our peppermint substitutes and mint substitutes pages.

• Peppermint in place of apple mint. Ratio (Method): Start with about half as much and taste. Peppermint is far more forceful, and it can take over a delicate fruit salad or drink.
• Apple mint in place of peppermint. Fine for a herb salad, a mild tea or a muddled drink. Ratio (Method): Use at least as much, and expect a softer result with little cooling. It won’t stand in for peppermint in desserts or candy.
• When peppermint is the flavor in a sweet. Neither leaf is your best bet. Ratio (Attributed): McCormick suggests stirring a few drops of its peppermint extract into hot cocoa, frosting or brownie batter.¹⁰

Spearmint sits between the two in strength and is often the more practical stand-in for either. See spearmint vs. peppermint.

Safety notes

Peppermint oil is controlled in medicinal use. The Pharmacopoeia limits pulegone and menthofuran, and in assessing medicines the EMA accepted a combined intake of up to 37.5 mg a day for a 50 kg adult.⁹ Some apple mint oils are dominated by pulegone,¹ but we found no regulator statement on apple mint leaf, and no evidence either way on whether cooking amounts matter. For peppermint’s side effects and pregnancy advice, see the peppermint profile.

What isn’t known

• We found no study that measures the same compounds in apple mint leaf and peppermint leaf side by side. Every figure above is for essential oil, from different studies.

• Apple mint’s botanical identity isn’t fully settled. Kew and the RHS call it M. suaveolens, while Katzer treats it as a hybrid.³⁴²

• We found no source for the common explanation that the “pepper” in peppermint refers to menthol’s bite.

Related

• Profiles: apple mint, peppermint, spearmint, mint
• Types of mint and spearmint vs. peppermint
• Peppermint substitutes and mint substitutes
• Lemon balm vs. mint and basil vs. mint
• How to store mint and too much mint