One should go through the history of Absinthe. Absinthe was created by a French doctor as medicine for his patients in the late 18th century in the town of Couvet of Switzerland. By 1805 the Absinthe recipes had got into the hands of Henri-Louis Pernod who started distilling it in his factory in Pontarlier in France.
Original Absinthe Recipes
Pernod’s Absinthe, Original Pernod Fils, was distilled from wine and contained many natural herbs and essential oils from plants including grande wormwood, aniseed, melissa, fennel, lemon balm, dittany, angelica root, hyssop, star anise, nutmeg and juniper.
The recipes and ingredients used by different manufacturers of the Green Fairy were not same. Absinthe production also includes herbs like calamus root, mint, cloves, nutmeg, roman wormwood, anise seed, coriander, sweet flag and licorice. Artimesia Absinthium was the main content of pre-ban Absinthe because it gave Absinthe its characteristic bitter taste and name also.
The THC in the drug cannabis and thujone in wormwood was thought to be similar. One can have psychedelic effects due to large quantity of thujone intake. Angelica root is grown as a drug in Lapland and a psychoactive element anethole is found in anise seed and fennel seed. Absinthe is a mysterious mix of sedatives and stimulants which gave artists and writers their genius and inspiration! The way of being drunk on Absinthe has been described in “A clear headed drunkenness”.
Absinthe was unauthorized in France because Prohibitionists believed that it was a great danger for the country. Just like other strong alcoholic drinks drinking Absinthe is also safe. A person cannot be harmed by Absinthe because it is alcoholic drink that contains minute quantities of wormwood and the other herbs.
Homemade Absinthe Recipes
There are many Absinthe recipes on the Internet using different herbs and different methods – steeping, filtering etc. Using plants, dried herbs or essential oils for Absinthe preparation at home is not suggested. Why?
– It is important to use distilled Absinthe.
– You have no way of knowing the thujone content of your finished Absinthe – a bit risky.
It is far better to buy either a quality Absinthe, making sure that it’s got the vital ingredient wormwood, or to buy an Absinthe kit which consists of Absinthe essences that have already been distilled.
One can purchase Breaux’s label “Lucid” in the USA.
AbsintheKit.com does great Absinthe kits which consist of:-
– Absinthe essence – choose from classic, white (which makes clear Swiss style Absinthe, Strong 55 (with a 55mg thujone content) and Orange (flavored with orange oil).
– Accurate measure.
– One can purchase Artistic Labels to decorate Absinthe bottles.
14 bottles of Absinthe can be made from a bottle of essence!
Bottled Absinthe can be prepared by dissolving 20ml of the Absinthe essence with a neutral alcohol like Everclear or vodka.
A person is sure about getting a safe, top-quality product as these essences are similar to the ones sold to distilleries.
One can get a large number of online cocktail Absinthe recipes. Have fun in finding and mixing the cocktails.