Dispelling a minty myth, pyramid peppermint

The case of the pyramid peppermint caught my attention when I noticed a recent post in The Near East Today. As a writer of historical fiction, I regularly delve into foods, herbs, and other everyday details. (Giza photo above from Pixabay)

I sometimes work from what I learn on my own travels. For example, my recent trip to the Greek island of Skyros gave me firsthand knowledge of the plants and landscapes. I’m weaving that experience into my current work in progress, a mythic retelling involving Achilles. One sample of my discoveries is the thorny burnet bush with its wicked thorns. We literally ran into these miniature spears far too often, and this “bush” is proving a good source both for creating my characters’ vivid hillside climbs and for developing metaphors.

More often, however, I can’t limit myself to knowledge gained from travel. I’m dependent on what scholars tell me. It’s annoying as heck when I find out later that I’ve been deceived, whether through cultural prejudices or incompetence.

Pyramid Peppermint

So I read with interest this engaging article about the mysterious claim of peppermint found in pyramids. How does misinformation from the ancient world find its way into the world of advertising and modern claims of health benefits? It takes a high degree of expertise to track something like this down, far more than I have, so I thoroughly enjoyed this impressive piece of sleuthing told in a highly accessible, lighthearted way. If you want to know the truth about pyramid peppermint and the amusing trail it left behind, read “The Curious Case of Pyramid Peppermint.”

Further Reading

If you find the topic of herbal remedies in the ancient world interesting, you may enjoy this post I wrote while in the midst of my first novel, set in the Trojan War, with a main character who is a healing priestess. The post is titled, “Helpful, Harmful and Hallucinogenic Herbs of the Bronze Age.”