Absinthe has an exciting history. Absinthe was created in the town of Couvet, in Switzerland, throughout the late 18th 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 began distilling it in his factory in Pontarlier in France.
First Absinthe Recipes
Pernod’s Absinthe, Original Pernod Fils, had been distilled from wine and included quite a few natural herbs and essential oils from plants like 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) made use of distinct recipes and ingredients. Other herbs employed 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 the creation of pre-ban Absinthe because it was the element that gave Absinthe its typical bitter taste, as well as its name.
Wormwood contains the chemical thujone which had been considered to be much like THC in the drug cannabis. Thujone is psychoactive and could cause psychedelic effects when consumed in large quantities. Anise seed and fennel seed both contain anethole which is reported to be psychoactive and Angelica root is grown as a drug in Lapland. Absinthe is a strange combination of sedatives and stimulants, no wonder that artists and writers like Van Gogh and Oscar Wilde reported that it gave them their genius and creativity! “A clear headed drunkenness” is how being drunk on Absinthe has been described.
Absinthe was famously suspended in France in 1915 when Prohibitionists claimed that it would ruin the country and send everyone insane. However, research has shown that drinking Absinthe is simply as safe as drinking any of the other strong alcoholic drinks just like whisky and vodka. Absinthe is principally alcohol and simply contains tiny volumes of wormwood and the other herbs so, if consumed moderately, isn’t real hazard to health.
Homemade Absinthe Recipes
There are many Absinthe recipes over the internet using different herbs and different methods – steeping, filtering etc. but making Absinthe from home from plants, dried herbs or essential oils just isn’t to be proposed. Why?
– Absinthe should be distilled.
– You have no means of understanding the thujone content of your finished Absinthe – a bit risky.
It is advisable to buy either a high quality Absinthe, making sure that it has got the vital ingredient wormwood, or to buy an Absinthe kit which consists 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 include:-
– Absinthe essence – pick 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 brighten your Absinthe bottles.
One bottle of essence will make 14 bottles of Absinthe!
To produce Absinthe with these kits you simply mix 20ml of the Absinthe essence using a neutral alcohol such as Everclear or vodka and that’s it – finished, your won bottle of Green Fairy.
Quick and easy to make use of and, since these essences are the exact same as the ones sold to distilleries, you already know that you’re getting a safe and secure, top-quality product.
If you search on the internet you will find lots of cocktail Absinthe recipes like Ernest Hemingway’s famous “Death in the Afternoon” – Absinthe and champagne. Enjoy choosing and mixing your cocktails.