From: mgolden@dip.eecs.umich.edu (Michael Golden)
Subject: RECIPE: Absinthe
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor, MI
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 00:43:27 GMT

In article <1993Jan25.224404.29778@eng.cam.ac.uk>, 90sra@eng.cam.ac.uk (S.R. Atkins) writes:
|> 
|> If I recall correctly it is illegal everywhere (there could be exceptions,
|> but...). It contained, in addition to a fair amount of alcohol, wormwood
|> and this made it vaguely hallucinogenic (?) and very toxic.
|> 
|> OED: absinth - a liquor made from (originally at least) wine and wormwood.
|> 

And Leif Neve writes:

|> I can't help you with the ingredients, but from what I know of
|> it, it's very toxic. I believe it was widely drunk in Paris
|> sometime in the latter half of the last century.  I guess
|> it was cheap and effective?


Well,  I do not know about VERY TOXIC and HALLUCINOGENIC.  I have some recipes,
which are enclosed below.  My sister whipped up a batch of #1  and it was quite
nice, with an interesting cardamum flavor to make it different than
standard pernod.  The wormwood (which can be gotten at stores that sell
medicinal herbs) added a nice little bitter hint.  I believe that campari
has (or had) wormwood in it to make it bitter.

Anyway, I did not die, nor did I experience mild hallucinogenic effects.
I did experience mild drunken effects, but they were kind of nice.
As the third paragraph indicates, the toxicity of Absinthe must be more
of a mild, long-term kind of thing.

By the way, it did turn splendidly cloudy when it was poured over ice.  Also,
I have heard that absinthe is supposed to be VERY alcoholic, and then mixed
with water by poouring it over a sugar cube (to help hide the bitterness) into
a glass with ice/water in it.  See the visually intriguing movie "Brams Stoker's
Dracula" for a demonstration of how to do this with panache and long fangs.
As the last recipe says: "74 percent alcohol."  That's 148 proof!  This might
be a good thing to mention when the inevitable Everclear thread pops up again.
Here (finally) is another legitimate use for Everclear.

Here are the recipes:

     Below are a few articles that have appeared on the net in the
past.  The first is a description of Absinthe and the last four are
recipes of one shape or another.  Enjoy.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

** Absinthe #1 **

        There are a few pages devoted to the culture of absinthe
drinking in an essay on Rimbaud by William Ober in his book _Bottoms
Up!_ (a rather unusual book, check it out). Alexis Lichine mentions it
in his books on spirits. Wormwood and its chemical constituents are well
documented in Mrs. Grieve's _Herbal_ (a very good source book on herbs;
I have found that British sources tend to be much more thorough and
grounded in research than American ones, which tend to rely on hand me
down tales and hearsay).

        True absinthe was marked by its intense green color (which
usually came from herbs other than wormwood, which is a gray-green at
best). This lead to cases in which the drink was adulterated with copper
salts, doubtless to the consumers detriment. The best absinthe contained
70-80% alcohol, which in itself makes a case for why it might be a
dangerous drink. Of beverages still legal for sale in most places, both
Campari and Fernet Branca contain wormwood, but are not nearly so
alcoholic.

        The 1911 edition of the Britannica remarks, "There is some
reason to believe that excessive absinthe-drinking leads to effects
which are specifically worse than those associated with over-indulgence
in other forms of alcohol.

        The manufacture and sale of true absinthe is still legal in
Spain.


** Absinthe #1 **

1 pint vodka                    2 tsp crumbled wormwood (dried)
2tsp anise seed                 1/2 tsp fennel seed
4 cardomom pods                 1 tsp majoram
1/2 tsp ground coriander        2 tsp chopped angelica root
1 2/3 cups sugar syrup

Place vodka in large jar with tight fitting lid.  Add wormwood and shake
well; steep 48 hrs and strain out.  Crush seeds and pods in mortar.  Add
them and all remaining spices to vodka and steep in a warm place 1 week.
Filter and sweeten.  (The sugar syrup mentioned above is your standard
simple syrup.)


** Absinthe #2 **

1 tsp crumbled wormwood         1 cup vodka
2 Tbsp chopped peppermint leaves
1 piece of lemon peel, 3/4"x2"
1/3-1/2 cup sugar syrup

Steep wormwood in vodka for 48 hours.  Strain out and add peppermint
leaves and lemon peel. Steep for 8 days, strain nd sweeten. Smells good
but is more bitter than #1.
** Absinthe Wine **

All herbs are dried.

2 tsp peppermint                2tsp dried wormwood
2 tsp thyme                     2 tsp lavender
2 tsp hyssop                    2 tsp majoram
2 tsp sage                      2 pints port

Steep herbs one week, filter and bottle. My notes describe this as
"bitter, aromatic and potent".


** Absinthe #3 **
  Scientific America - June 1989

     An 1855 recipe from Pontarlier, France, gives the following
     instructions for making 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.



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