One should go through the history of Absinthe. In the late 18th century a French doctor created Absinthe as an elixir for his patients. By 1805 the Absinthe recipeshad 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 were not same for the Green Fairy Absinthe. Besides the main herbs the other herbs used in Absinthe production includes calamus root, mint, cloves, nutmeg, roman wormwood, anise seed, coriander, sweet flag and licorice. The pre-ban Absinthe was prepared with the herb wormwood known as Artimesia Absinthium.
The thujone content in wormwood was believed to be similar to THC in the drug cannabis. One can have psychedelic effects due to large quantity of thujone intake. Anethole is said to be psychoactive which is content of anise seed and fennel seed and Lapland grow Angelica root in the form of drug. As Absinthe is a mysterious mix of sedatives and stimulants so a few artists and writers claimed that it enhanced their genius and inspiration! The way of being drunk on Absinthe has been described in “A clear headed drunkenness”.
Absinthe was famously banned in France in 1915 when Prohibitionists claimed that it was going to ruin the country and send everyone insane. Studies claimed that consuming Absinthe is just as safe as drinking any of the other strong alcoholic drinks. Absinthe is mainly alcohol and only contains minute quantities of wormwood and the other herbs so, if consumed in moderation, is no real health risk.
Homemade Absinthe Recipes
There are many Absinthe recipes on the Internet using different herbs and different methods – steeping, filtering etc. Absinthe production from plants, dried herbs or essential oils at home is not preferred. Why?
– One should distill the Absinthe.
-Knowing the thujone content of drunked Absinthe is not possible.
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.
Buying Absinthe is now legal 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).
-Take a measure.
– One can purchase Artistic Labels to decorate Absinthe bottles.
One bottle of essence will make 14 bottles of Absinthe!
Using these kits one had to mix 20ml of the Absinthe essence with a neutral alcohol to make own bottle of Green Fairy.
Simple and easy to use and, because these essences are the very same as the ones sold to distilleries, you know that you are getting a safe, top-quality product.
There are numerous cocktail Absinthe recipes onlie for example Ernest Hemingway’s famous “Death in the Afternoon” – Absinthe and champagne. Enjoy finding and mixing your cocktails.