Absinthe

Absinthe is an anise-flavored liquor or spirit that is made by steeping wormwood and other aromatic herbs (e.g., hyssop, lemon balm, and angelica) in alcohol. The liquor is a dazzling emerald blue-green color, due to its chlorophyll content, and is normally clear. It changes to a cloudy white when mixed with water. It has long had a romantic reputation due to its supposedly toxic qualities derived from the wormwood, caused by thujone, a component of an essential oil derived from wormwood (Artemisia absinthium).

Validation of absinthism

Recent research has shown this to be a romantic fantasy. 19th century reports of thujone toxicity were based on concentrations of 260 mg/l. Commercial absinthes are made under a "thujone ban" requiring the concentration to be below 35 mg/l.

Thujone analyses of past and present absinthes

Analyses of 15 samples of pre-ban absinthe (i.e., before 1915) produced results varying between 0.5 and 48.3 mg/L, with an average concentration of 25.4 +/- 20.3 mg/L and a median concentration of 33.3 mg/L.

Is it possible that the thujone in these aged samples had degraded over time? Testing of contemporary commercial absinthe had either no detectable thujone or an amount well below the allowable level. Laboratory-prepared extracts using classical recipes had low concentrations (mean: 1.3 +/- 1.6 mg/L, range: 0-4.3 mg/>). 1930 vintage absinthe, made before the ban, contained 1.8 mg/l. In other words, it was not possible to prepare a wormwood extract, without thujone suppression, that had much more than 10 percent of the current legal limit, and a small fraction of the alleged toxic level.,

For further reference

• http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Absinthe.htm