- Type
- Herbs & Aromatics
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Season
- Spring·Summer
- Sowing
- From seed
Schizonepeta
Schizonepeta tenuifolia
Pulegone and menthone — an aromatic herb dried whole on the spike
Schizonepeta is an annual herb in the mint family, known in Korea as hyeonggae or jeongga. Its leaves split into thread-fine segments, and at the end of summer the small flowers gather into a spike. The Donguibogam listed it as a garden crop and noted that the first growth is pungent enough to eat as a green or to simmer into tea. As a dried herb it is the spike that matters, harvested and dried whole under the name 荊芥穗. What varies is not the cultivar but the way it is grown for each use: give the plants room when the spike is the harvest, and sow thickly when young leaves are. In a pot, sow it in spring and pick a few leaves at a time right through the summer. A meal's worth of young leaves, or a light steeping for aroma, is the ordinary use; essential oil and concentrated extracts hold the pulegone far more tightly, so they are not taken in quantity or over long stretches, and not used during pregnancy.
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Where It Grows
- Main producer It is grown in quantity in the fields of Hebei, Jiangsu and Zhejiang for the spikes (hyeonggae-su, the dried flower spike).
- Major producer It also goes by the name jeonga, and is planted and raised as a field crop.
- Major producer It is called keigai there, and the scale of cultivation is small.
It is regarded as native to China, and its history as a field crop is longer than its history growing wild. Its growing areas do not extend far beyond three East Asian countries, and within that, most of the volume of spikes dried for use comes from Chinese cultivation. International statistics carry no separate entry for it, so rankings cannot be compared.
- Optimum
- 18~25℃
- Range
- 10~30℃
- Hardiness
- Not hardy
An annual aromatic herb that grows in fields with good sun. It stands up to heat but is weak against the damp of the rainy season, and frost kills it. Where there is too little sun it grows leggy and its fragrance thins.
In Korea Nationwide
How to grow
- Light
- Six hours of sun or more. Short on light, it stretches and the scent thins out.
- Soil and depth
- Free-draining soil in a pot about 20 cm deep. Rich soil gives you big leaves and weak aroma.
- Spacing
- 20–25 cm between plants. For eating as a green, sow thickly and thin as you pick.
- Watering
- Water when the surface dries. It dislikes staying wet, so move the pot under cover during the rainy season.
- Feeding
- A base dressing is usually enough. If you top-dress at all, use something low in nitrogen and do it once.
- Harvest
- Pick young leaves from May or June as you need them. Cut the flowering spikes with their stems in August or September, once the flowers are half over, and dry them in the shade. The Donguibogam described gathering the spikes after flowers and seeds had set, then drying them for use.
What makes the difference. The seed is tiny, so scatter it on the surface and press it in rather than burying it. Keep the top of the soil damp with a mister until it germinates. It is an annual, but leaving two or three spikes standing usually gives you volunteers in the same pot next year.
Common problems
- Aphids You will see Small insects cluster on the tips of new shoots What to do Wash them off with a jet of water and open up spacing for airflow
- Spider mites You will see Fine speckling on the undersides of leaves, with thin webbing What to do They arrive in dry spells, so mist the undersides and remove damaged leaves
- Powdery mildew You will see A white dusty film spreads across the leaves What to do Clear the lower leaves for airflow and keep water from sitting on the foliage
This page describes how a crop is grown and used. It does not claim health effects for any food, nor is it intended to prevent or treat disease. Component and study notes are references only and do not mean the same result occurs in people. Consult a medical professional about health concerns.
Health Benefits
What the Donguibogam recorded. The Donguibogam described 荊芥 as warm in nature, pungent and bitter in taste, and without toxicity, and noted that it was planted in gardens and that the first growth was eaten as a green or simmered as tea. This is a description from an old medical text, not a statement of modern medical effect.
Laboratory-stage research. The research uses extracts and essential oil, conditions that differ from eating the herb as food. Essential oil is a far more concentrated form than a few leaves used for aroma. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory work has been reported in cell and animal studies, but whether the same holds at the amounts eaten as a green or a tea has not been established.
Nutrition
- Pulegone (The main constituent of the essential oil) — A sharp, mint-family scent
- Menthone and limonene (Essential oil constituents) — A cool, clean aroma
- Luteolin and apigenin (Leaf flavonoids) — Compounds that steep out into the tea
Essential oil: pulegone and menthone The scent comes from essential oil held in the leaves and the flowering spike. Pulegone and menthone lead it, with limonene adding a citrus edge, so the whole thing lands somewhere between mint and orange peel. The oil peaks in the spike around flowering and keeps evaporating as the plant dries. Drying quickly in the shade holds on to more of it than leaving the spikes out in the sun.
Flavonoids The leaves contain flavonoids such as luteolin and apigenin. These are shared across many herbs in the mint family rather than being unique to this one. They dissolve readily in water, so they come out along with the aroma when you steep the herb as tea. How much is present varies a great deal with growing conditions and harvest timing.
Where it sits as a vegetable Schizonepeta is not a vegetable with a tidy nutrition table behind it. It is not something you eat by the bowlful; it goes in for aroma. Even dressed as a namul, the young leaves are usually mixed in small amounts with other greens. Treating it as a flavoring rather than a source of nutrients matches how it is actually used.
Pulegone — the lead aroma compound, and the one to watch Pulegone, the main constituent of the essential oil, carries the scent and is also the compound whose amount has to be watched. The European Union sets maximum levels for pulegone in food, and studies of schizonepeta oil treat pulegone and menthofuran as constituents to be quantified and controlled. Ordinary use — young leaves dressed as a green at one meal, or a light steeping for aroma — does not run into that range, but essential oil and concentrated extracts gather the same compound far more tightly, so they are not taken in quantity or over long stretches. Essential oil and concentrated extracts are not used during pregnancy.
Pairings
○ Tea — The Donguibogam records simmering schizonepeta and drinking it as tea. Steep 2–3 g of dried spike in hot water for about three minutes and it gives off a mint-like aroma. Long steeping turns it bitter, so pull the herb out early.
○ Red perilla and mint — The Uihak Immun explained that the herb's older name, 假蘇, came from its resemblance in scent to chajogi, the red perilla used in Korean cooking. Red perilla is a different plant, a variety of the same species as deulkkae, but the aromatic family is close enough that the two follow each other naturally in tea or in a dressed salad. Adding mint pulls the whole thing toward the cooler end. Mint · Perilla (Deulkkae) · Shiso (Red Perilla)
○ Rich meat and fish — The strong aroma is useful for cutting through fatty dishes. Lay a few young leaves alongside, or chop them into a dressing. Heat drives the scent off quickly, so add it after the flame is out.
△ Essential oil and concentrated extracts — not in quantity, not for long — The scent of schizonepeta comes from an essential oil led by pulegone. Dressing young leaves as a green, or steeping the herb lightly for aroma, is the ordinary use; essential oil and concentrated extracts gather that same compound far more tightly. The European Union sets maximum levels for pulegone in food. Essential oil and concentrated extracts should not be taken in quantity at once or continued over long stretches, and tea is best kept to an aromatic steeping rather than brewed strong and drunk daily.
△ Pregnancy — no essential oil, no concentrated extracts — Schizonepeta essential oil and concentrated extracts are not used during pregnancy. They are the concentrated form of pulegone, and there is no data establishing their safety in pregnancy. This is separate from using a few leaves to add aroma to a dish.
Varieties
- Schizonepeta (jeonggga) (Seed) — The basic form sold as seed in Korea. The leaves divide into thread-fine segments.
- Grown for the flower spike (Seed) — Left uncut, then the whole spike is dried in August or September. This is what the herb trade calls hyeonggaesu.
- Dense-sown for greens (Seed) — Sown thickly and picked as young leaves only, the way the Donguibogam describes eating it fresh.
Source: Donguibogam, Vegetable Section (荊芥) · Rural Development Administration (nongsaro.go.kr) · Korean Plant Names Index