Peppermint has been the reigning flavor of winter since before pumpkin spice conquered the autumn season. Candy canes, peppermint bark, and Starbucks peppermint mochas – now, they’re all clear signs that you’re overdue to start your holiday shopping.
But the association between peppermint and the winter holidays is still somewhat of a mystery. After all, peppermint is an herb commonly harvested in the spring and summer months. Pumpkins and apples are both autumn harvests, so their historical connection is clear. So, how did a minty herb become the icon of the coldest months of the year?
It’s likely that the peppermint phenomenon probably began with candy canes, which have been around for several centuries.
“Candy canes are among the most popular treats for the winter holiday season, and 75% of Americans prefer a classic peppermint candy cane over any other type,” Carly Schildhaus, director of communications at the National Confectioners Association, said.
Historians say the story of the candy cane most likely begins in the 17th century in Europe. Popular lore suggests a choirmaster at Cologne cathedral in Germany commissioned for the local baker to make “white sugar sticks” to be shaped like shepherd’s canes.
The goal of the candy cane was to keep restless children quiet during the Christmas services while simultaneously teaching them about the nativity. The crook shape, reminiscent of the shepherds who visited baby Jesus, imbued the treat with a symbolic significance.
By the early 20th century, these treats had made their way to America.
Some say that a confectioner in Albany, Georgia, was the one to invent the iconic red and white striped pattern, but no one knows for certain.
Today, candy canes are quintessential to the holidays, and consumers even debate the best way to eat them.
“When asked about the right way to eat a candy cane, 54% of people say they begin with the straight end, while 30% start with the curved end,” Schildhaus said. “Another 16% of respondents break their candy cane into pieces.”
Still, the legend of peppermint goes a lot deeper than candy canes. The herb has a much longer history of medicinal use because its cooling properties, derived from menthol, make it an effective remedy for digestive issues like stomach aches as well as respiratory congestion – ailments that often flare up during colder months.
The “cooling effect” of peppermint on taste buds is key to its appeal, and possibly key to its long-lasting winter association. Menthol, the reason behind the coldness that hits your mouth when you taste mint, is a naturally occurring chemical compound found in peppermint and other mint plants.
“Menthol interacts with the body’s internal temperature modulation, meaning our own internal compass that tells us when something is cold or hot,” Rasheed Perry, a scientist at New York University’s Food and Nutrition Studies department. “It tricks the body into thinking that it’s experiencing something cool when the temperature has not changed.”
Peppermint soothes the body by cooling us down, but why would we want to be cooled down in the already cold wintertime? The chill of autumn causes cravings for the warmth of cinnamon and spice, yet the coldness of winter ignites cravings for cold menthol.
Well, it’s possible that the love of peppermint actually comes from our association of cold weather with the winter months. When we think holidays, we think winter. And when we think winter, we think cold.
“We’re not really sure why it evolved like this,” Helene Hopfer, an associate professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University, said. “When its’s winter, it’s cold. So it could be that it’s something you can enjoy the coldness of without actually being outside in the cold.”
Regardless of where the winter-peppermint connection came from, candy canes and peppermint don’t seem to be going away from the holiday season anytime soon and will continue to fill us with holiday cheer.
“It’s all related to how, around the holidays, we enjoy these particular holiday specific foods with people that are close to us, and they are typically consumed in a time when we might not be so stressed out,” Hopfer said.
“It’s not very common to eat stuff like peppermint bark outside of the holiday season. All of this leads to this association that our brains then make by eating certain foods. That, ‘Oh, I feel relaxed, I feel happy, I feel joyful.’”
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