Most of the well known artists and writers liked drinking Absinthe, the Green Fairy.
Absinthe is a strong alcoholic beveragedistilled at high proof but generally served diluted with iced water or in cocktails. Absinthe liquor is usually produced from a wine alcohol base and is flavored with herbs and essential oils as well as wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium), fennel and aniseed. Absinthe is also prepared from other herbal ingredients like hyssop, lemon balm, star anise, angelica, juniper, nutmeg, dittany, calamus root and mint.
Information about Absinthe History
Absinthe has a very long and interesting history. There had been medicinal use of wormwood since ancient times. Legend says that Absinthe was created by a French doctor Dr Pierre Ordinaire in the late 18th century, in the Swiss town of Couvet in the Val-de-Travers. Ordinaire used it on his patients, as an elixir, with miraculous results.
During the 19th century, Henri-Louis Pernod was using the Absinthe recipe to distill Absinthe in Couvet and under the name of Pernod Fils in the French town of Pontarlier. By the middle of the 19th century, the Pernod company were producing 30,000 liters of Absinthe each day!
Absinthe was a popular drink in France, in La Belle Epoque, and also many other countries. In France Absinthe overtook wine as the favorite drink. Simultaneously there were concerns related to health and the effects of Absinthe. The liquor was linked to the Bohemian culture of Montmartre. People became convinced that the psychedelic effects, convulsions, insanity, brain damage and death were caused due to the thujone content in wormwood.
Van Gogh’s insanity and his suicide, murder of a family and the rising rate of alcohol abuse in France were the events for which Absinthe was blamed. Absinthe was made illegal in 1912 in the USA and in 1915 in France. Buying and selling of Absinthe was also illegalized in other countries.
Absinthe Revival
During the ban, people either drank Absinthe substitutes, such as Pernod Pastis, or bought bootleg Absinthe. Most of the people were convinced with the reports given by studies and research about Absinthe.
As per research thujone in Absinthe cannot cause any harmful side effects and intaking Absinthe was not risky than intaking other alcoholic beverages.
In the late 20th century Absinthe with up to 10mg/kg of thujone was authorized in the EU and with up to 10 ppm it was legalized in the USA .
France, home of Pernod’s original Absinthestill has a ban on products labeled “Absinthe” and France also strictly regulates drinks containing fenchone, a chemical in fennel which is a key ingredient in Absinthe. Absinthes is known as “spirit a base de plantes d’absinthe” in France and only contain up to 5mg per liter of fenchone.
In these times of revival, it is possible to get Absinthe from anywhere.One can get more information about Absinthe essences on AbsintheKit.com. They also sell replica Absinthe glasses and spoonslike a Pontarlier glass and Eiffel Tower spoon.