Mint

Mint, fresh, sitting in your hand — smell it before anything else. That sharp, cool sting on the nose is the whole point. Rub a leaf and let it open up. If it smells flat, green, grassy, and nothing more, put it back. Good mint should almost bite you back through your nose.

Look at the leaves too. They should stand up, not sag. A wilted leaf feels limp and smells duller, softer around the edges — a sign it's on its way out, not the mint you want.

Some people say dried mint is basically the same thing, just concentrated — no! Dried mint has its own smell, warmer, more like tea than like a garden. It's good stuff, but it isn't fresh mint in another coat. That mistake sends cooks straight to the spice jar for a mojito or a fresh salad, and the drink or the salad ends up tasting like someone else's kitchen, not like summer.

Buy it close to when you'll use it. Keep the stems in water like flowers, not wrapped in a bag. Add it at the very end, off the heat — cooking mint for long is just another way of throwing it away.