Absinthe thujone is the chemical seen in Absinthe’s vital ingredient, the plant referred to as Common Wormwood, or Artemisia Absinthium to give it its botanical name. The chemical thujone was partly accountable for Absinthe being banned during the early 1900s in many countries across the globe and thujone continues to be tightly regulated today, especially in the United States (or states united).
Thujone was considered to be much like THC found in cannabis and Absinthe was alleged to be psychoactive and have psychedelic effects creating hallucinations and insanity. Absinthe was favored by the Bohemian set in Montmartre in Paris and many artists and writers claimed that Absinthe, the Green Fairy, gave them inspiration in addition to their genius. Famous Absinthe drinkers include Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Degas, Baudelaire and Verlaine. Some point out that Van Gogh’s madness was due to Absinthe and that he cut off his ear under its influence https://alcoholplant.com. Absinthe was even held responsible for a man murdering his family, despite the fact that he had used many other strong alcoholic drinks following the Absinthe.
Prohibition campaigners used news of the murder to campaign for the banning of Absinthe and charged France’s growing problems of alcoholism to the emerald liquor.
Is Absinthe Thujone Dangerous?
Today’s research suggests that it was actually the alcohol (ethanol) content of Absinthe that was dangerous instead of the thujone. Absinthe is two times as strong as spirits like whisky and vodka and can be 75% alcohol. Care should therefore be utilized when ingesting Absinthe. Thujone is merely found in minute quantities and should therefore cause no major side effects or health problems. The EU stipulates that alcohol based drinks with an ABV (alcohol by volume) level over 25% may only consist of a maximum of 10mg/kg of thujone, beverages classed as “bitters” can contain up to 35mg/kg, it’s not totally clear which class Absinthe fits into but a majority of brands of Absinthe have much less than 35mg with a lot of being under 10mg/kg. In the US it is simply legal to get or sell Absinthes with trace amounts of thujone.
High doses of thujone may be dangerous causing convulsions but you would need to drink a large amount of Absinthe to consume that volume of thujone and it will be impossible to drink that amount, you’d be comatosed from alcohol before then!
Absinthe Ingredients
It is known that Henri-Louis Pernod, who owned the very first Absinthe distillery, employed the herbs wormwood, aniseed, fennel, lemon balm, hyssop, angelica root, dittany, star anise, nutmeg, juniper and veronica to make his famous Pernod Absinthe. The essential oil from all of these herbs is responsible for La Louche, the clouding which happens when water is included with Absinthe. These herbs specially the aniseed and anise are responsible for the distinctive aniseed or licorice taste of Absinthe and wormwood is mainly responsible for the bitter flavor. Absinthe is oftentimes used as bitters in cocktails.
There are several brands of Absinthe or Absinthe substitutes which were developed during the ban and so contain no Absinthe thujone or wormwood, but many would say that Absinthe just isn’t Absinthe without Absinthe thujone and the bitter taste of wormwood. If you’d like real Absinthe try to find brands that contain wormwood or Absinthe thujone.