The mint as your grandparents and great-grandparents would have know it…

Fresh, smooth and bright, the taste has been lost for generations. It is very different from the harsher, blended, imported peppermint of recent decades.

At the start of the 20th century, England was famous for producing the best mint in the world —the French still call peppermint menthe Anglaise, or English mint. Over the years, pressure to grow food crops and the cost of labour brought a decline in cultivation, leaving the US to become the centre for commercial production.

Summerdown's mission to reintroduce this traditional crop began in the mid-1990s as part of a trend towards authentic food created for its quality and character. Sir Michael Colman (yes he from that iconic Mustard family), decided to start this renaissance on his private Hampshire estate.

He felt the food industry was selling its customers short by offering cheap peppermint oil blends that feature harsh-tasting imports from China and India —and he was sure that, once people experienced the clean, intense taste of pure English mint, they would appreciate the difference.

Black Mitcham mint is now rooted in English soil once more and bringing its unique flavour to a growing range of Summerdown products.

The proof is in the products too. A host of awards for their teas and chocolates are testament to the quality that this once lost beautiful crop has reintroduced to the UK.