Peppermint

[serene]

I am curious to see if anyone knows if there is any fructose in mint leaves? I have searched through the databases that I am aware of and could not find it listed anywhere. I am in the process of developing a list of safe foods for myself and keep going back on forth on the peppermint tea. It seems like at times that it is ok and at other times that I am reacting. Of course it could be something else that I am having that isn't safe as I seem to have found in other posts that people have been able to tolerate it.

[colormist]

I don't have any issues with peppermint or spearmint tea. I haven't heard of anyone else on this board having issues with the mints, either, but perhaps we just haven't brought it up before.

[ukbill]

As far as I am concerned it is fructose free.. OK it's not, but the amount of fructose in say 3 or 4 leaves of mint (which will give a nice refreshing drink) is so small as to be none existent to all tense and purposes.

The same go's for herbs and spices, we are unlikely to eat enough of them to cause us any problems whatsoever (assuming we are talking about whole spices not ready ground which might be contaminated and contain ... who know what?)

Normally I say make an "oil" which will contain no fructose at all for example fried onion oil, Fry the onion in a lot of good quality oil and then when cool put the lot into a sterilised bottle with a tight fitting top to keep until needed then just use the oil.

The fructose will stay in the onion in the bottom of the oil.

You can do this with Garlic, chili and ginger too if you want

And you can of course buy Peppermint oil which can be used in baking.

Home made Mint Sauce is good too I use fresh leaves only and chop them up finely and put them in Malt Vinegar. I have never had a problem with this and it is great on Lamb! YUM.. making me hungry thinking about it.

Its also very good on any meat that has come out of the oven a bit Greasy.. so to speak the mint sauce cuts through the oiliness beautifully.

HFI food is NOT bland its every bit as tasty as "normal" food only missing the sweet bit

I hope this helps?

[serene]

Thank you both, I had suspected it was something else still in my diet that I was reacting to. There had been times that I seemed to drink it without a problem, so good to know it is safe!

Thank you too Bill for the ideas about how to season food. I was worried when I read the amounts of fructose in spices that I was condemned to forever have bland food.

It seems like there is some variation in the postings here about the degree to which people tolerate them. You mentioned using whole spices vs. the ground ones. How do I obtain the whole spices?

Thanks!

[charlie]

Sometimes its the accumulated or delayed affect of foods that cause a reaction but you will automatically think back to the last thing you ate. Meg can take several days to throw a reaction sometimes, thats why I used to keep a diary and do again now while we are testing a few things so I can check back for a pattern.

[shereebailey83]

I've had no problems with mint before and i love peppermint tea when my belly is feeling a bit off, i find the organic stuff works beautifully to relax the muscles and help with bloating

[ukbill]

In the UK I can buy them from "ethnic" shops or from the main supermarkets who do the normal expensive Shwartz type stuff in little jars and also do far larger bags of the spices both ground and whole which are the same price but instead of buying say 25g you get 250g!

Which is a result so far as I'm concerned. Keep them in air tight jars and they will keep for a year or more.

I am certian you can buy them from ebay

If you cannot get them elswhere.