Corn Mint

Note Profile

Botanical

Also Known As

Wild mint

About

Corn mint is the essential oil of Mentha arvensis, the wild field mint. It is the sharpest of the common mints. Menthol dominates it and there is little of the sweetness that softens spearmint.

Scent Profile

Cooling mentholic leads and everything else sits under it. The chemistry says why: menthol at 28-34% plus menthone at 16-31%, the chemotype ScienceDirect calls 'more pungent' than the sweet carvone chemotype of spearmint. Aromatic herbal follows, the ordinary leafy body of the mint family, though no source gathered measured it and the spread here is wide for that reason. A thin green edge sits behind it. Trade copy calls the smell 'refreshing' and 'lively' and gives no more detail than that.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeTop · ~2h lasting

Family Fresh & Citrus

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

Steam-distilled from the leaves of Mentha arvensis, a mint native to temperate Europe, western and central Asia and North America. It grows wild as a weed in cereal fields, which is where the English name comes from. It is not related to maize. The oil is 28-34% menthol, 16-31% menthone, 6-13% isomenthone and 5-10% limonene (ScienceDirect). Most of the world's crystalline menthol comes from it: the oil is frozen, the menthol crystallises out, and the residual dementholised oil is what is sold on as a fragrance and flavour material.

Usage in Perfumery

Used where a formula needs cold rather than sweetness. It sits in the top with the citruses and lavenders and burns off fast. 19 Parfumo placements across 10 brands.