Absinthe comes with an exciting history. Absinthe was developed in the town of Couvet, in Switzerland, during the late eighteenth century by a French doctor who utilized it as an elixir or tonic for his patients. By 1805 the Absinthe recipes had got into the hands of Henri-Louis Pernod who started distilling it into his factory in Pontarlier in France.
Unique 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.
Several manufacturers of the Green Fairy (Absinthe’s nickname) used various recipes and ingredients. Other herbs utilized in Absinthe production included calamus root, mint, cloves, nutmeg, roman wormwood, anise seed, coriander, sweet flag and licorice. The herb wormwood, Artimesia Absinthium, was always utilised in absinthe-recipe.com the making of pre-ban Absinthe because it was the element that gave Absinthe its typical bitter taste, along with its name.
Wormwood has got the chemical thujone that was considered to be much like THC in the drug cannabis. Thujone is psychoactive and could cause psychedelic effects when taken in big amounts. Anise seed and fennel seed both contain anethole which is considered to be psychoactive and Angelica root is grown as a drug in Lapland. Absinthe is a mystical blend of sedatives and stimulants, no surprise that artists and writers like Van Gogh and Oscar Wilde claimed that it gave them their genius and determination! “A clear headed drunkenness” is how being drunk on Absinthe has been referred to.
Absinthe was notoriously banned in France in 1915 when Prohibitionists claimed that it would ruin the country and send everyone insane. However, studies show that drinking Absinthe is just as safe as drinking any 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 sparingly, isn’t real hazard to health.
Self-made Absinthe Recipes
There are several Absinthe recipes over the internet using different herbs as well as other methods – steeping, filtering etc. but making Absinthe in your own home from plants, dried herbs or essential oils isn’t to be encouraged. Why?
– Absinthe should be distilled.
– You have no manner of knowing the thujone content of your finished Absinthe – a little risky.
It is far better to buy either a good quality Absinthe, making sure that it’s got the vital ingredient wormwood, or to buy an Absinthe kit which is made up of Absinthe essences that have been distilled.
You may even buy Absinthe in the USA now – Breaux’s label “Lucid” is legal in the USA.
AbsintheKit.com does fantastic Absinthe kits which consist of:-
– Absinthe essence – select 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 decorate your Absinthe bottles.
One bottle of essence will make 14 bottles of Absinthe!
To produce Absinthe making use of these kits you simply mix 20ml of the Absinthe essence using a neutral alcohol like Everclear or vodka and that’s it – finished, your won bottle of Green Fairy.
Quick and simple to use and, since these essences are the exact same as the ones sold to distilleries, you know that you are receiving a good, top-quality product.
If you do some searching online there are lots of cocktail Absinthe recipes like Ernest Hemingway’s famous “Death in the Afternoon” – Absinthe and champagne. Get pleasure from finding and mixing your cocktails.