Absinthe wormwood is usually Artemisia Absinthium or Grand Wormwood that’s actually a variety of wormwood which does not contain a large amount of the substance thujone mediabeteshelp.com. A few brands of Absinthe utilize Roman Wormwood, Artemisia Pontica, along with Grand Wormwood and also this type of wormwood also includes thujone, so drinks with two kinds of wormwood could have more thujone. Thujone amounts can differ between brands substantially, some Absinthes just have negligible levels of thujone, whereas others have as much as 35mg/kg. Only Absinthe which has negligible quantities of thujone is legal for sale in the USA due to the fact that thujone is an unlawful food additive presently there.
Why is there dispute about Absinthe Wormwood?
Common Wormwood, Artemisia Absinthium, is a plant which has been used in medicine since ancient times. It is used:-
– To counteract poisoning caused by toadstools and hemlock.
– As a tonic.
– To relieve a fever.
– As being a stimulant to digestion.
– To deal with parasitic intestinal worms.
It is the herb Wormwood that gives Absinthe its bitterness, its green colour and its name. The essential herbal oils in Absinthe also are the cause of the famouse “louche” effect, the cloudy that happens when water is added into the drink.
Absinthe was banned in the early 1900s in several countries because of the alleged side effects of the chemical substance thujone, present in Wormwood extract. Absinthe drinking was linked to violent crimes, serious intoxication, insanity and thujone was believed to have psychoactive and psychedelic effects and also to be a hallucinogen. It was even claimed that a french man murdered his whole family after drinking Absinthe – he was in fact an alcoholic who ingested copious quantities of other alcohol right after the Absinthe!
From being a trendy Bohemian drink enjoyed by many writers and artists, such as Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Oscar Wilde, it had been suddenly a prohibited and illegal drink. It was prohibited in a lot of European countries and in the USA but never was suspended in the UK, where it had never been popular, Spain, Portugal or even the Czech Republic.
Absinthe Wormwood Rebirth
Clearly there was never any real evidence connecting Absinthe drinking to hallucinations or insanity and it is now known that Absinthe isn’t any worse than any other highly alcoholic drink. Absinthe has about twice the alcoholic content of spirits like whisky and vodka and so should be consumed in moderation, but Absinthe wormwood is not believed to be harmful. Many Absinthe drinkers do report feeling a funny lucid or clear headed form of drunkenness when consuming a little too much Absinthe – this may be because of the combination of the sedative effects of some of the herbs (and the alcohol content) and the stimulating results of the Wormwood along with other herbs.
Since Absinthe was legalized in many countries during the 1990s there has been a renewed interest, a rebirth, in Absinthe drinking. There are many different types and brands of Absinthe on the market and buyers can also order Absinthe essence, to produce their own Absinthe, online from manufacturers like AbsintheKit.com.
Absinthe Wormwood remains to be the most important ingredient in Absinthe today but thujone content is firmly controlled in the European Union (no greater than 10mg/kg) and also the United States where only trace amounts are permitted. Search for Absinthes that have real wormwood and herbs not man-made flavors.