How come mint in hot countries?

Now I'm not a good or expert gardener but I always thought that mint had to be grown in the shade and that it needed quite a lot of water. Indeed the Vietnamese mint that I have growing in my garden drinks water avidly - I once saw it being sold as a water plant. So how come mint is the herb of choice in all those hot and dry countries from Greece to India and down into the Sahara? Surely, I thought, you can't grow it there.

And I have tried to find out but haven't really come up with an answer. Other than that you grow it underneath other trees, or in other shady spots. No doubt commercially it is grown in climate controlled greenhouses. With de-salinated water? The water is the tricky bit it seems to me. I mean I do know it's supposedly easy to grow and can indeed take over the garden if you're not careful (not in mine I have to say. I struggle to get it to grow in quantity). But even so if you have too much sun and not enough water, surely it's not the obvious plant to grow. Dubai anyone? And here's is an interesting little side fact that I found as I was surfing the net. At the hotel at which we stayed in Dubai last time (Jumeirah Creekside), they have a farmer's market one day a week at which you can buy herbs for your garden - or balcony. And in spite of the climate it is the herb of choice for much of the middle east. Fresh and dried. In all manner of food and drink.

It is apparently native to the Mediterranean area and Asia and its name comes from the Greek and a rather nice legend. Minthe was a water nymph and Hades, god of the underworld fell for her. This annoyed his wife Persephone who turned her into a plant - into mint, so that everyone would walk all over her and crush her. Hades couldn't turn her back into a nymph, but he gave her a lovely smell, so that he could smell her and be near her when people walked on her. Well I suppose it's not really nice, but quirky anyway. Interesting that she was a water nymph - goes with the need for lots of water.

Mint, as you know is used in just about everything from toothpaste to chocolate. We all like it. It has a clean, fresh and bright taste. It has medicinal qualities - hence the mint tea, and has been used to disinfect and clean things from a very early time, as well as flavouring food. Menthol is derived from mint.

So I am not questioning why it would be popular in the middle east - merely how come, considering it needs cool and moist which the middle east very definitely is not.

It is also one of those few herbs that even tastes good when dried. Dried mint has a slightly different, more intense taste and is used a great deal in Greece and the middle east. Maybe they grow it in the cooler periods (if there are any) and then dry it for use in the summer. I guess that would be a partial explanation.