What Type of Wormwood is Used For Absinthe?
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What Type of Wormwood is Used For Absinthe?
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By admin | June 25, 2012
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Absinthe is well known as the liquor that was banned because it made people hallucinate and go insane. Absinthe is even blamed for the insanity and suicide of Van Gogh, and all because it contains wormwood. But there are different types of wormwood – What type of wormwood is used for Absinthe?
What type of wormwood is used for Absinthe production?
Grande wormwood, also known as common wormwood or artemisia absinthium , is the key herbal ingredient in Absinthe. This wormwood gives Absinthe its name and its characteristic bitter taste. The common wormwood plant is a perennial herb which grows in rocky areas and on arid ground in North Africa, the Mediterranean and Asia. It is a member of a group of plants called artemsias which are in the aster family. Tarragon, sagebrush, silver king artemisia, Levant wormwood, Roman wormwood and southernwood are also in this family of plants.
Roman wormwood, artemisia pontica, is used as an extra flavoring by some Absinthe distillers and is also used to flavor the drinks Campari and Vermouth. Southernwood, or petite absinthe (artemisia abrotanum), was used by distillers during the Absinthe ban to make substitute Absinthes like Absente. Common wormwood is the wormwood used in “real” Absinthe production.
Absinthe is made by distilling alcohol with natural herbs including grande wormwood, aniseed, fennel, hyssop and lemon balm. The distilled liquor is high proof, much higher than fermented drinks like wine, beer and cider and even stronger than spirits such as whisky and vodka. However, it is usually served diluted following the La Louche method which is also called the Ritual.
Grande or Common Wormwood has been used in medicine since ancient times:-
– as an antiseptic.
– to ease labor pains.
– as a digestive tonic.
– to reduce fevers.
– to counteract poisoning caused by toadstools or hemlock.
– to expel intestinal worms.
It was a well known medicinal herb and perhaps this is why Dr Pierre Ordinaire, the legendary creator of Absinthe, used it in his elixir in the late 18th century. Absinthe quickly went from being an elixir or tonic to being a highly popular and trendy alcoholic beverage in La Belle Epoque period, the Golden age of France. Unfortunately, by the early 1900s Absinthe had been banned in many countries around the world because of worries about the wormwood.
Wormwood contains the chemical thujone, a monoterpene which, in large doses, acts on the GABA receptors of the brain. Doctors, in the late 19th century and early 20th century, thought that thujone was like THC in cannabis, that it was psychoactive and caused psychedelic effects. Absinthe was blamed for causing hallucinations, convulsions, insanity, brain damage and death. Yet we now know that these claims are completely unsourced and are just part of the mass hysteria of the time, and the Prohibition movement’s attempts to ban alcohol.
Tests and studies have shown that Absinthe only contains very small amounts of thujone and that drinking Absinthe is just as safe as drinking any strong liquor. Absinthe has now been made legal in most countries but buyers should be aware that Absinthe can intoxicate people quite quickly!
What type of wormwood is used for Absinthe? Well, the answer is that reputable Absinthe distillers use grande wormwood as one of the main herbs in Absinthe production and then may use Roman wormwood as an extra flavor or in the coloring phase when plants are used to make a “verte” or green Absinthe. Fake Absinthes may be made using southernwood so look for real wormwood Absinthe which contains thujone. AbsintheKit.com who make Absinthe essences, to make Absinthe at home, also use real wormwood – Absinthe isn’t Absinthe without wormwood!
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