Herb
Pennyroyal
D tier
Pennyroyal (M. pulegium) is a historic mint-scented herb with serious toxicity concerns—especially concentrated oil—and is not recommended as a modern culinary herb despite old recipe mentions. Do not use as edible garnish in food service. Included here as a listed variety identity for completeness; choose spearmint or peppermint for cooking instead.
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Unit
Characteristics
Preparations
DriedFreshGarnishInfusedSauceTeaTorn
Traits
HistoricMedicinal HistoricNot Culinary ModernPungentStrongToxic ConcernsUnsafe Pregnancy
History
GR
Pennyroyal appeared in classical medicinal texts.
GB
European herbals listed pennyroyal for folk uses.
Toxicology began warning against internal pennyroyal oil use.
Culinary authorities excluded pennyroyal from edible herb recommendations.