For more than 50 years, Norfolk farmers have grown the main ingredient for Colman's mint sauce – an effort which will now be celebrated on the jar's labelling.
The fragrance drifting across these newly-harvested fields is unmistakable – as recognisable as the famed Norwich food brand where the crop is destined.
But while Colman's is a household name, the farmers who grow the mint for the company's mint sauce are less heralded.
So to celebrate their vital role in this local supply chain, this season's sauce is being packaged with new labels proudly proclaiming 'made with Norfolk grown mint'.
The county's mint harvest began last week on a field at Kirby Bedon owned by the Crown Point Estate, one of four partners in the Norfolk Mint Growers group.
Between them, they grow about 100 acres of the perennial herb, sharing specialised harvesting equipment which gathers 800 tonnes of mint a year for the Colman's plant at Carrow.
David Bond, another member of the group who grows mint at Blofield, said: 'What I like is the close relationship with the customer and the end product.
'We are growing mint on the field, and I can pick a jar of mint sauce off the shelf and know it is my mint in it. You won't get the same personal relationship between wheat and a loaf of bread in the supermarket.'
The mint is gathered by the harvester's rotating mechanical fingers, which strip the leaves from the stem before they are taken on the 10-minute journey from Kirby Bedon to the processing factory.
Mr Bond: 'It is important to get the whole leaf, otherwise it will get bruised, and within a few minutes it will turn black. The mint does have to be close to the factory so we can get it processed and pickled in vinegar.'
A mixture of rain and warm sunshine brought perfect growing conditions in the last two weeks before harvest, said Mr Bond, with the fields weeded by hand a week earlier.
'The harvester takes everything, so we need to make sure the fields are clean before we go in, which is getting more challenging with the reduced amount of herbicides available to us,' said Mr Bond. 'It is a very labour-intensive crop. It is not an extensive crop, so it is all about the quality. It is no use us cutting corners and doing it cheaper because we have to get the quality right.'
Joanna Watson, marketing manager at Unilever UK, which owns the Colman's brand, said: 'At Colman's, we are proud of our local heritage and our relationship with the Norfolk Mint Growers.
'Working in partnership for over 25 years, our farmers have been growing mint in the region for over half a century. Using sustainable farming practices, our farmers help protect the local supply of our mint crop which means more of our top-selling Colman's mint sauce gracing families' dinner tables for many more years to come.'
BRUNDALL MINT
When Colman's began making mint sauce in the 1960s the company searched all over the country for the best variety of mint.
Fortunately, the ideal plant was found just a few miles away, growing in the Brundall back garden of then crops manager, John Hemingway.
Brundall mint is still cultivated by the Norfolk Mint Growers at Blofield, Stokesby, Kirby Bedon and Whissonsett.
Mr Bond said: 'Colman's has been here since 1814, and if Colman's was not here in Norwich we would not be growing mint, as we cannot transport it too far because it would get bruised and go off.
'The land here is good for Norfolk mint. Because mint is perennial herb it spends 8-10 years in the field, so you need free-draining soil for it to survive the winters. We have that kind of sandy free-draining soil here in Norfolk, so it is a good place to grow mint – but it does mean you need irrigation in the summer.'
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