The Absinthe United States Situation
Absinthe thujone is the chemical seen in Absinthe’s vital ingredient, the plant identified as Common Wormwood, or Artemisia Absinthium to give it its botanical name. The chemical thujone was partly the cause of Absinthe being banned during the early 1900s in several countries around the world and thujone remains tightly regulated today, especially in the United States (or states united).
Thujone was considered to be just like THC found in cannabis and Absinthe was purported to be psychoactive and have psychedelic effects causing hallucinations and insanity. Absinthe was favored by the Bohemian set in Montmartre in Paris and lots of artists and writers believed that Absinthe, the Green Fairy, gave them inspiration in addition to their genius. Renowned Absinthe drinkers include Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Degas, Baudelaire and Verlaine. Some say that Van Gogh’s madness was due to Absinthe and that he cut off his ear under its effect alcohol plant. Absinthe was even held accountable for a man murdering his family, although he had ingested many other strong alcoholic drinks after the Absinthe.
Prohibition campaigners used news of the murder to campaign for the banning of Absinthe and blamed France’s growing problems of alcohol dependency on the emerald liquor.
Is Absinthe Thujone Harmful?
Today’s research suggests that it was actually the alcohol (ethanol) content of Absinthe that was dangerous rather than the thujone. Absinthe is twice as strong as spirits like whisky and vodka and can be 75% alcohol. Care should therefore be taken when consuming Absinthe. Thujone is merely contained in minute quantities and must therefore cause no major unwanted effects or health problems. The EU stipulates that alcohol based drinks with an ABV (alcohol by volume) level over 25% may possibly contain a maximum of 10mg/kg of thujone, beverages classed as “bitters” can contain approximately 35mg/kg, it’s not entirely clear which class Absinthe fits into but many brands of Absinthe have much less than 35mg with a lot of being under 10mg/kg. In the US it is only legal to purchase or sell Absinthes with trace amounts of thujone.
High doses of thujone can be dangerous leading to convulsions however you would need to drink a substantial amount of Absinthe to consume that quantity of thujone and it might be impossible to drink that amount, you would be comatosed from alcohol until then!
Absinthe Ingredients
It is known that Henri-Louis Pernod, who owned the initial Absinthe distillery, used the herbs wormwood, aniseed, fennel, lemon balm, hyssop, angelica root, dittany, star anise, nutmeg, juniper and veronica to produce his famous Pernod Absinthe. The essential oil from all of these herbs is mainly responsible for La Louche, the clouding which occurs when water is included with Absinthe. These herbs particularly the aniseed and anise are responsible for the distinctive aniseed or licorice taste of Absinthe and wormwood is liable for the bitter flavor. Absinthe is usually used as bitters in cocktails.
There are lots of brands of Absinthe or Absinthe substitutes that have been developed in the ban and so contain no Absinthe thujone or wormwood, but some would say that Absinthe just isn’t Absinthe without Absinthe thujone and the bitter taste of wormwood. If you want real Absinthe search for brands that contain wormwood or Absinthe thujone.
