Today we celebrate two great tastes that taste great together: chocolate and mint. It’s National Chocolate Mint Day!
Granted, it seems like we just celebrated this holiday last week with Peppermint Patties. But there are enough combinations of chocolate and mint that we could eat (or drink) something different every day for a couple of weeks. Not that we’d want to do that, of course.
Chocolate pairs well with many different foods. Classic pairings include chocolate and red wine, chocolate and strawberries, chocolate and orange, and chocolate and muenster cheese. Chocolate and mint are no exception, either. Mint is derived from the Latin word mentha, which in turn comes from the Greek word minthe. In Greek mythology, Minthe was a female spirit…okay, she was a nymph…who tried to seduce Hades with her feminine wiles and awesome cleavage, but Queen Persephone stepped in and turned Minthe into a mint plant. Boy, when they say there’s no such thing as a woman scorned, they mean it!
Mint is classified as an herb and belongs to the same family as basil, rosemary, sage, oregano, and catnip. It grows vigorously when planted, and can take over an entire garden. I know this firsthand: I once planted a single mint plant in the backyard, and before long every time I cut the grass it smelled like a Junior Mints factory had exploded. Good stuff, but man, be careful or it’ll get out of control, much like bamboo and the ridiculous claims over at Fox News.
We could have gone in a dozen different directions with today’s challenge, but since it’s Girl Scout cookie season, we decided to go with Thin Mint cookies. A timeless classic, if you will (and straight out of the freezer, ’cause that’s how we roll). Yum!
Thin Mint cookies are in season, so we indulged!
Related articles
- National Chocolate Mint Day! (illinois.uloop.com)
Eat My Words 