Crème de menthe

A small glass of green crème de menthe

Crème de menthe (pronounced [kʁɛm də mɑ̃t], French for "mint cream") is a sweet, mint-flavored alcoholic beverage. Its flavor primarily derives from Corsican mint or dried peppermint. 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 has 25% alcohol by volume.

Crème de menthe is an ingredient in several cocktails, such as the Grasshopper and the Stinger. It is also served as a digestif and used in cooking as a flavoring (see Mint chocolate). It is also a primary component of the popular South African shooter known as the Springbokkie.

The traditional formula steeps dried peppermint or Corsican mint leaves in grain alcohol for several weeks (creating a naturally green color), followed by filtration and addition of sugar.^[1]

Music

Sergei Rachmaninoff, although otherwise a teetotaler, 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. He nicknamed the twenty-fourth the "Crème de Menthe Variation."^[2]

Popular Culture

In "The Visitors" sketch in a 1969 episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Terry Gilliam plays an extremely effeminate, flamboyant, and stereotypically gay character, whose regular drink is a pint of crème de menth.

On episode 22 of Season 2 the sitcom Friends "The One with The Two Parties", character Phoebe Buffay offers a crème de menthe to Leonard Green to try and stall him from running into his wife.

On episode 7 of Season 3 on the Starz show Outlander, titled "Crème De Menthe", character Jamie Fraser Sam Heughan, hides a murder victim in a cask of crème de menthe. He assures his wife, Claire Caitriona Balfe, that no one will find him because he has never seen a Scotsman drink the said liquor before.

In the first season and twelfth episode of "Mad Men", there is a shortage of booze during an office party for the presidential election. In response, members of the party raid a supply closet and fill an entire water cooler with crème de menthe for the party to enjoy.

References

↑ reference not found Classic Liquors Products/Flavors Archived 2014-05-22 at the Wayback Machine.
↑ Rimm, Robert (2002). The Composer-Pianists: Hamelin and the Eight. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. p. 142. ISBN 1574670727. Retrieved 2013-03-18.

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[1] reference not found Classic Liquors Products/Flavors Archived 2014-05-22 at the Wayback Machine.

[2] Rimm, Robert (2002). The Composer-Pianists: Hamelin and the Eight. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. p. 142. ISBN 1574670727. Retrieved 2013-03-18.