36 Absinthe http://www.chow.com/ingredients/36 Tue, 14 Feb 2006 05:15:41 GMT Absinthe is a strong herbal liqueur distilled with many flavorful herbs, including anise, licorice, hyssop, veronica, fennel, lemon balm, angelica, and wormwood. Although true absinthe is illegal, contemporary manifestations, which have an anise flavor, are quite popular. Every historian of nineteenth-century literature and art knows that absinthe was a veritable poison. This dazzling green liqueur was the signature drink of famous artists, writers, and poets: Picasso, Hemingway, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Oscar Wilde all heavily indulged in it. The “green fairy” was said to inspire their creativity, but because of the lethal component wormwood, it was also habit-forming and hallucinogenic; it incited heavy absinthe users to madness and suicide. Wormwood had been used medicinally since the Middle Ages, primarily to exterminate tapeworm infestations while leaving the human host uninjured and even rejuvenated, which is to say “stoned.”

It should come as no surprise that one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the world, bottled between 120 and 150 proof, was banned in the U.S. in 1915. Not content to let a good thing go, tipplers have been experimenting ever since with varieties of liquors and mixers to attain the same blissfully snookered state. Pastis (from the French pastiche, meaning “hodgepodge”) can be any number of modern anise-flavored liqueurs that have supplanted absinthe.

Chief among the absinthe substitutes is the anise-flavored Pernod, a brand of pastis. Absente, Absinthe Refined, a modern version of the original absinthe recipe using a less bitter cousin botanical, southern-wormwood, is also widely available. Absente also comes with an actual, gratis slotted absinthe spoon on the box. Good luck finding Absente in your local pub.

The French are quite specific as to the time to imbibe absinthe. They have referred to it as l’heure vert, “the green hour.” When exactly this is, however, has never been made clear. Donning a beret and discussing existentialism at an outdoor café under a setting summer sun would provide a very absinthe moment.

The young French poet Rimbaud wrote a series of poems entitled “A Season in Hell.” As you might expect, there weren’t many laughs in it. And neither are there many laughs in authentic absinthe —unless you get a kick from madness and suicide. Pastis and the other forms of modern absinthe, however, are happily, and safely, enjoyed throughout the year.

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