Crème de menthe (, French for "mint cream") is a sweet,

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

-flavored alcoholic beverage. It is available commercially in a colorless version (called "white") and a green version (colored by the mint leaves or by added coloring if made from extract instead of leaves). Both varieties have similar flavor and are interchangeable in recipes, except where color is important. It is usually made with

Corsican mint ''Mentha requienii'', or Corsican mint, is a herb and species of mint, native to Corsica, Sardinia, and Montecristo Island, and naturalized in Portugal and in the British Isles. It is a very low-growing species with bright green leaves and a ...

peppermint Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world.Euro+Med Plantbas ...

, which is steeped in grain alcohol for several weeks before it is filtered and sweetened to create the final product. It typically has 25% alcohol by volume. Crème de menthe is an ingredient in several cocktails, such as the

Grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

and the

Stinger A stinger (or sting) is a sharp organ found in various animals (typically insects and other arthropods) capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal. An insect sting is complicated by its introduction of v ...

. It is also served as a digestif and used in cooking as a flavoring (see

Mint chocolate Mint chocolate (or chocolate mint) is a popular type of chocolate, made by adding a mint flavoring, such as peppermint, spearmint, or crème de menthe, to chocolate. Mint chocolate can be found in a wide variety of edible products, such as can ...

). It is also a primary component of the popular South African shooter known as the

Springbokkie The springbokkie ("little springbok" in the Afrikaans language) is a cocktail shooter that is popular in South Africa. It is composed of crème de menthe (''or substitutes'') and Amarula. The drink derives its name from the country's national an ...

Music

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

, although otherwise a

teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...

, found that a glass of crème de menthe steadied his nerves when playing the technically demanding piano score in the twenty-fourth variation of his ''

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini The ''Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini'', Op. 43, (russian: Рапсодия на тему Паганини, ''Rapsodiya na temu Paganini'') is a concertante work written by Sergei Rachmaninoff for piano and orchestra, closely resembling a piano ...

''. He nicknamed the twenty-fourth the "Crème de Menthe Variation".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Creme De Menthe Liqueurs Herbal liqueurs