Absinthe has an interesting history. Absinthe was developed in the area of Couvet, in Switzerland, in the late 18th century by a French doctor who utilized it as being an elixir or tonic for his patients. By 1805 the Absinthe recipes had got into the hands of Henri-Louis Pernod who began distilling it into his factory in Pontarlier in France.
Authentic Absinthe Recipes
Pernod’s Absinthe, Original Pernod Fils, was distilled from wine and contained quite a few natural herbs and essential oils from plants which includes grande wormwood, aniseed, melissa, fennel, lemon balm, dittany, angelica root, hyssop, star anise, nutmeg and juniper.
Various manufacturers of the Green Fairy (Absinthe’s nickname) used various recipes and ingredients. Other herbs utilized in Absinthe production www.absinthekit.com included calamus root, mint, cloves, nutmeg, roman wormwood, anise seed, coriander, sweet flag and licorice. The herb wormwood, Artimesia Absinthium, was always used in the creation of pre-ban Absinthe because it was the substance that gave Absinthe its typical bitter taste, along with its name.
Wormwood contains the chemical thujone that was believed to be just like THC in the drug cannabis. Thujone is psychoactive and can easily cause psychedelic effects when taken in big amounts. Anise seed and fennel seed both contain anethole that’s said to be psychoactive and Angelica root is grown as a drug in Lapland. Absinthe is a strange mixture of sedatives and stimulants, no wonder that artists and writers similar to Van Gogh and Oscar Wilde professed that it gave them their genius and creativity! “A clear headed drunkenness” is how being drunk on Absinthe has long been referred to.
Absinthe was notoriously prohibited in France in 1915 when Prohibitionists claimed that it would definitely ruin the land and send everyone insane. However, research indicates that drinking Absinthe can be just as safe as drinking many of the other strong alcoholic drinks such as whisky and vodka. Absinthe is primarily alcohol and just contains tiny volumes of wormwood and also the other herbs so, if consumed in moderation, isn’t real hazard to health.
Self-made Absinthe Recipes
There are lots of Absinthe recipes on the net using different herbs and various methods – steeping, filtering etc. but making Absinthe at home from plants, dried herbs or essential oils just isn’t to be recommended. Why?
– Absinthe has to be distilled.
– You have no way of understanding the thujone content of your completed Absinthe – a little risky.
It’s advisable to buy either a top quality Absinthe, being sure that it has got the vital ingredient wormwood, or to buy an Absinthe kit which is made up of Absinthe essences which have been distilled.
You can even buy Absinthe in America now – Breaux’s label “Lucid” is legal in the USA.
AbsintheKit.com does excellent Absinthe kits which contain:-
– Absinthe essence – choose from classic, white (that makes clear Swiss style Absinthe, Strong 55 (with a 55mg thujone content) and Orange (flavoured with orange oil).
– A measure.
– Artistic Labels to embellish your Absinthe bottles.
One bottle of essence can make 14 bottles of Absinthe!
To produce Absinthe by using these kits you simply mix 20ml of the Absinthe essence using a neutral alcohol like Everclear or vodka and that is exactly it – finished, your won bottle of Green Fairy.
Quick and easy to use and, because these essences are the exact same as the ones sold to distilleries, you are aware that you are getting a good, top-quality product.
If you search online there are lots of cocktail Absinthe recipes such as Ernest Hemingway’s famous “Death in the Afternoon” – Absinthe and champagne. Take pleasure in finding and mixing your cocktails.