All About Absinthe
Absinthe had been the favorite drink of several popular artists and writers.
Absinthe is a strong alcoholic beveragedistilled at high proof but generally served diluted with iced water or in cocktails. Absinthe is flavored with herbs and essential oils along with wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium), aniseed and fennel and made from a wine alcohol base. The preparation of Absinthe also involves other herbal ingredients such as hyssop, lemon balm, star anise, angelica, juniper, nutmeg, dittany, calamus root and mint.
Information about Absinthe History
Absinthe has a very long and interesting history. There had been medicinal use of wormwood since ancient times. Legend says that Absinthe was created by a French doctor Dr Pierre Ordinaire in the late 18th century, in the Swiss town of Couvet in the Val-de-Travers. Ordinaire used it on his patients, as an elixir, with miraculous results.
The Absinthe recipe was used by Henri-Louis Pernod to distill Absinthe in Couvet and then the French town of Pontarlier under the name of Pernod Fils. By the middle of the 19th century, Absinthe was produced upto 30,000 liters per day by the Pernod company!
Absinthe was found to be famous in France, in La Belle Epoque and many other nations also. Absinthe became the favorite drink of the French people. Contemporary there were concerns about health and the effects of Absinthe. It was said that the liquor is linked to the Bohemian culture of Montmartre. People became convinced that thujone, the chemical in wormwood, was psychoactive and caused psychedelic effects, convulsions, insanity, brain damage and death.
Absinthe was thought to be the cause for Van Gogh’s insanity and his suicide, for the murder of a family and for the rising rate of alcohol abuse in France. Absinthe was made illegal in 1912 in the USA and in 1915 in France. Absinthe was banned in other countries also.
Absinthe Revival
During the ban, people either drank Absinthe substitutes, such as Pernod Pastis, or bought bootleg Absinthe. Studies and research showed that the claims made about Absinthe were untrue.
Studies showed that the thujone content in Absinthe was so small that it cannot cause harmful side effects and drinking Absinthe was no more dangerous than other strong alcoholic beverages.
Absinthe with up to 10mg/kg of thujone was legalized in the EU in the late 20th century and in 2007, in the USA, certain brands of Absinthe, those containing up to 10 ppm, were legalized and Americans can now enjoy buying brands such as “Lucid” .
France, home of Pernod’s original Absinthestill has a ban on products labeled “Absinthe” and France also strictly regulates drinks containing fenchone, a chemical in fennel which is a key ingredient in Absinthe. In France, Absinthes are famous as “spirit a base de plantes d’absinthe” and should contain up to 5mg per liter of fenchone.
In these times of revival, it is possible to get Absinthe from anywhere.AbsintheKit.com is the website giving full information about Absinthe essences. They also sell replica Absinthe glasses and spoonslike a Pontarlier glass and Eiffel Tower spoon.
