Hi John,
I see this posting by Till, (?Are you interested in more background
information than given in the comment by jfy023-ga ??)
However, I don?t see a comment by you, so I?ll go ahead and answer your question.
The Web definition for Absinthe is:
?A highly toxic liqueur, 140 to 160 proof, illegal in most countries,
flavored with wormwood and other herbs. Effects include those
customary with alcohol, plus a disorienting, floating, dream-like
quality from the combination of wormwood and herbs.?
Absinthe is ?traditionally diluted with cold water which is poured
over a perforated spoonful of sugar into a glass containing a shot of
absinthe. The drink then turns into an opaque white as the essential
oils precipitate out of the alcoholic solution, forming a colloidal
suspension.?
Wormwood is the main ingredient of absinthe, which gives it the
properties that make it desirable. The Thujone content comes from the
Wormwood. It also contains Ethanol. Both Thujone and Ethanol are
considered psychoactive. It?s reported if the Thujone quality is high
enough, it?s a hallucinogenic; however, any absinthe you get today
will be more like Everclear, and just get you quite drunk due to the
typical bottle being 75% alcohol by volume.
Here?s a bit of the timeline
1792 ? Absinthe starts being promoted
1840?s ? French Soldiers drank Absinthe as a preventative against
malaria and other diseases.
1912 ? Absinthe is banned in the US
Speaking of the bans, here?s an idea why it may have been banned.
?Since wine was considered a healthy drink and absinthe was the most
popular liqueur of its time, absinthe was blamed for many
alcohol-related problems and became the main target of early
prohibition efforts in France. Absinthe's association with the
bohemian lifestyle may have worked to compound fears about its
effects, much as has happened with marijuana in the United States. In
retrospect, absinthe seems to have become the focus of fears about the
changes that came with industrialization. Absinthe was subsequently
banned in many countries in the early 1900's.?
Here?s an 1855 recipe for Absinthe:
Macerate 2.5 kilograms of dried wormwood, 5 kilograms of anise and 5
kilograms of fennel in 95 liters of 85 percent ethanol by volume.
Let the mixture steep for at least 12 hours in the pot of a double boiler.
Add 45 liters of water and apply heat; collect 95 liters of
distillate. To 40 liters of the distillate, add 1 kilogram of Roman
wormwood, 1 kilogram of hyssop and 500 grams of lemon balm, all of
which have been dried and finely divided.
Extract at a moderate temperature, then siphon off the liquor, filter,
and reunite it with the remaining 55 liters of distillate.
Dilute with water to produce approximately 100 liters of absinthe with
a final alcohol concentration of 74 percent by volume
Absinthe is made today, but with CONSIDERABLY less Wormwood/Thujone content today.
It?s still illegal in the US because of:
?801A of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of August, 1972.?
And
?Wormwood was included on a list of unsafe herbs which the FDA released in 1975.?
However, in other countries, they have upped the limits or removed the bans.
?The European Community Codex Committee on Food Additives has
restricted the levels of thujone to 0.5 ppm (mg/kg) in food and
beverages, 10 ppm (mg/kg) in alcoholic beverages containing more than
25% alcohol, 5 ppm (mg/kg) in weaker alcoholic beverages, and 35 ppm
in bitters. Absinthe (made with wormwood) is still available in Spain
(contrary to Pendell (1995)) and reportedly in Denmark, Andorra, and
Portugal as well. It has also recently become popular in the Czech
Republic under the brand name "Hill's Absinth."
From what it look like, it is still illegal to posses, but or sell
absinthe in the US, or from sources outside the US.
I found this, but it?s not a definitive law source:
? It is illegal to sell thujone containing absinthe in the US for
human consumption.
? It is illegal for someone outside the US to sell thujone containing
absinthe to someone inside the US.
? It is not illegal to purchase thujone containing absinthe for
personal use in the US.
? It is not illegal to purchase thujone containing absinthe for
personal use from outside the United States
? Thujone containing absinthe can be seized by US customs (if it
appears to be for human consumption).
Here are a number of links for you to check out:
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/absinthe/absinthe.shtml
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/absinthe/absinthe_faq.shtml
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/absinthe/absinthe_info1.shtml
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/absinthe/absinthe_info2.shtml
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/absinthe/absinthe_bits.shtml
http://www.erowid.org/ask/ask.cgi?ID=2693
http://www.erowid.org/plants/wormwood/wormwood.shtml
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/absinthe/absinthe_timeline.php
Google Search:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=what%20is%20absinthe&btnG=Google+Search
If this answer requires further explanation, please request
clarification before rating it, and I'll be happy to look into this
further.
Nenna-GA
Google Answers Researcher |
