Absinthe has an interesting history. Absinthe was created by a French doctor as medicine for his patients in the late 18th century in the town of Couvet of Switzerland. By 1805 the Absinthe recipes had got into the hands of Henri-Louis Pernod who started distilling it in his factory in Pontarlier in France.

Original Absinthe Recipes

Pernod's Absinthe, Original Pernod Fils, was distilled from wine and contained many natural herbs and essential oils from plants including grand wormwood, aniseed, melissa, fennel, lemon balm, dittany, angelica root, hyssop, star anise, nutmeg and juniper.

A variety of recipes and ingredients were used by different producers of Absinthe,The Green Fairy. Other herbs used in Absinthe production included calamus root, mint, cloves, nutmeg, roman wormwood, anise seed, coriander, sweet flag and licorice. The characteristic bitter taste and name of Absinthe was given by the herb wormwood, Artimesia Absinthium.

The THC in the drug cannabis and thujone in wormwood was thought to be similar. Psychedelic effects are caused because of high intake of thujone content. Anise seed and fennel seed both contain anethole which is said to be psychoactive and Angelica root is grown as a drug in Lapland. Some artists and writers like Van Gogh and Oscar Wilde believed that they got their genius and inspiration from Absinthe! “A clear headed drunkenness” is the explanation on how being drunk on Absinthe.

Absinthe was famously banned in France in 1915 when Prohibitionists claimed that it was going to ruin the country and send everyone insane. Studies claimed that consuming Absinthe is just as safe as drinking any of the other strong alcoholic drinks. Absinthe is mainly alcohol and only contains minute quantities of wormwood and the other herbs so, if consumed in moderation, is no real health risk.

Homemade Absinthe Recipes

There are many Absinthe recipes on the Internet using different herbs and different methods – steeping, filtering etc. One should not prepare Absinthe at home from plants, dried herbs or essential oils. Why?
- One should distill the Absinthe.
- No one can know the thujone content of his finished Absinthe.

It is far better to buy either a quality Absinthe, making sure that it's got the vital ingredient wormwood, or to buy an Absinthe kit which consists of Absinthe essences that have already been distilled.

You can even buy Absinthe in the USA now – Breaux's label “Lucid” is legal in the USA.

AbsintheKit.com does great Absinthe kits which consist of:-

- Absinthe essence – choose from classic, white (which makes clear Swiss style Absinthe, Strong 55 (with a 55mg thujone content) and Orange (flavored with orange oil).
- Accurate measure.
- Buy Artistic Labels for decorating Absinthe bottles.

14 bottles of Absinthe can be made from a bottle of essence!

One can prepare own bottled Absinthe by mixing 20ml of the Absinthe essence with a neutral alcohol.

As these essences are the very same as the ones sold to distilleries so one will definitely get a safe, top-quality product.

There are numerous cocktail Absinthe recipes onlie for example Ernest Hemingway's famous “Death in the Afternoon” - Absinthe and champagne. A person can enjoy searching and mixing of cocktails.