They are not mite eggs. Do they rub off?

tj

They do. It doesn't take a lot of force to remove them, but they don't want to come off under the faucet. The one pictured is darker than most, they're usually a light brown.

Might it be scale insects, not eggs? Do you have a strong magnifying lens to check with?

I don't bother trying to save leaves like that. They go in the compost and I use only the clean ones.

Alternatively, rinse and dry and use as is. A few bug eggs won't hurt.

This is a better photo of the offenders, from a leaf I had not attempted to clean yet. I managed to clean this batch of peppermint, but it would be best if I could identify the pest for future reference. Internet searches turned up scales as brown or black looking, while these orbs are typically light green or light brown, but that could still be the answer.

Any help is appreciated!

That looks like aphids. You can try soaking in salted water, then rinsing well.

But aphids would rinse right off, especially with a bit of swishing in water. So I don't think it's aphids. Also the OP seems to have looked at them closely, and aphids would have been clearly recognizable

It's always possible that they are a variety of aphid that I am unfamiliar with, I believe they come in several shapes and colors. The thing that made me doubt that they were aphids is that they seemed immobile and, upon inspection, legless.

The other was simply the difficulty with which they were removed. A moderately forceful stream of water didn't dislodge them. They come off effortlessly with a toothpick, though. Perhaps they are just tenacious little plant vampires that don't want to let go.

The 'spots' in the second photo above don't look like the ones in the first photo. They're light green and really look like aphids to me.

The first photo shows dark brown things that look like scale.

Both are sucking insects, but scale has a protective shell and anchors itself to the plant, while aphids are soft bodied and crawl or fly.

Both insects come in a variety of colors, sizes and scale can have different shapes.

Here are some examples that resemble the photos you shared:

Scale

Aphids

Well, Brett’s latest enlarged picture looks like aphids to me.

P.S. Aphids don't always rinse off easily - sometimes they stick!

I've done some more investigating and it appears that I have scales AND aphids on the plant! The scales are what I noticed first as being stubborn to remove, and my subsequent and somewhat paranoid examination turned up a few aphids - which were much easier to dislodge.

I appreciate all of the feedback, it was much more helpful in determining the insects' identities than googling "small brown orb" "small brown bugs on peppermint" and various other permutations.

Your photos show only a few, so it's likely not a big problem right now.

I can’t say i’ve ever heard of scale on mint, or, indeed, as far as I recollect, on any herbaceous perennial. But since it is only mint I‘d just cut back the affected parts. Youd be chopping away at it anyway for cooking so won’t come to any harm. Indeed mint looks better if regularly trimmed.

Have you considered getting some Green Lacewing eggs or larvae? They'll eat both aphids and supposedly scale. I used them for the first time a couple of weeks and they knocked out my aphid problem insanely fast.