Creme de menthe ( pronounced [k??m d? m??t] , French for "mint cream") is a sweet, mint -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). ^[1] Both varieties have similar flavor and are interchangeable in recipes, except where color is important. It is usually made with Corsican mint or peppermint , 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.

Creme 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 .

Music [ edit ]

Russian composer and conductor, Sergei Rachmaninoff , although otherwise a teetotaler , found that a glass of creme de menthe steadied his nerves before 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 "Creme de Menthe Variation". ^[2]

Menta [ edit ]

Menta is a sweet mint liqueur prepared from natural ingredients like spearmint oil. It is a refreshing drink popular in Bulgaria in the summertime. It is a component of some cocktails as the traditional "Cloud" (in Bulgarian - Облак) where it is combined with Mastika . It is a sweet mint liqueur (typical 15-25% ABV) derived from a distillate of mint leaves & is available to buy as bottles of either green or white (clear) liquids.

See also [ edit ]

• Bulgarian cuisine

References [ edit ]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Creme de menthe .