The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks (40 page)
Read The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks Online
Authors: Amy Stewart
Tags: #Non-Fiction
Carl Linnaeus, father of modern taxonomy, gave the plant its Latin name when he published
Species Plantarum
in 1753. The word
absinthe
was already in use to describe the plant, so when Linnaeus named it, he was simply formalizing the traditional name. The drink known as absinthe would start to appear in liquor advertisements just a few decades later. In addition to wormwood and anise, it traditionally contained fennel and perhaps a few other ingredients according to the distiller's preferences: coriander, angelica, juniper, and star anise, for example.
The use of wormwood in wine and spirits dates at least to Egyptian times. It was mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus, an ancient medical text from 1500 BC that might actually be a copy of earlier works dating back several more centuries, where it was recommended to kill roundworms and treat digestive problems. At the same time, in China, medicinal wines were made with wormwood; this has been confirmed through chemical analysis of drinking vessels found at archaeological sites.
People eventually realized that adding wormwood to wine and other distilled spirits actually improved the flavor or at least helped disguise the stench of crude, poorly made alcohol.
Like many medicinal tonics, wormwood wine eventually became a recreational drink: vermouth. Wormwood also added a bitterâand antimicrobialâelement to beer before the use of hops. And it was put to use in a wide range of Italian and French liqueurs.
Although
A. absinthium
is the best-known species, several other species native to the Alps and collectively referred to as
génépi
are also used in liqueurs, including a liqueur called
génépi
that perhaps best captures the actual flavor of the herb. These tend to be small, rugged plants, some only a few inches tall, that thrive in tough, rocky conditions. The wild species are protected and can only be harvested under very limited conditions.
Rumors of wormwood's dangers are greatly exaggerated: while the plant does contain a compound called thujone that could cause seizures and death at very high doses, the actual amount of thujone that remains in absinthe and liqueurs is actually quite low. The stories of absinthe causing hallucinations and wild behavior among France's bohemian set in the late nineteenth century are mostly false; perhaps this was caused by the extraordinarily high alcohol content of absinthe. It was traditionally bottled at 70 to 80 percent ABV, making it twice as alcoholic as gin or vodka.
Absinthe is legal today in Europe, the United States, and many places around the world. Some governments regulate the amount of thujone that may be present in the finished productâthis in spite of the fact that many other culinary plants, including sage, are even higher in thujone and aren't regulated at all.
DANCING WITH THE GREEN FAIRY
Forget about lighting absinthe-soaked sugar cubes on fire. The traditional method for drinking absinthe involves only cold water, with a sugar cube if you like your drinks sweeter. (Modern, artisanal distillers disapprove of adding sugar.)
The addition of water causes a chemical reaction that releases flavor and changes the color; this phenomenon is known as the
louche,
although you might think of it as the arrival of the green fairy.
1 ounce absinthe
1 sugar cube (optional)
4 ounces ice-cold water mixed with ice cubes
Pour the absinthe into a clear, fluted glass. Rest a spoon across the top of the glass. (If possible, use a metal slotted spoon or a traditional absinthe spoon). Place the sugar cube, if desired, on the spoon. (Try half a sugar cube for less sweetness, or none at all.)
Now drip the ice water very slowly over the sugar cube, a few drops at a time, allowing the cube to slowly dissolve and drip sugary water into the glass. If you're skipping the sugar entirely, simply drip ice water, one drop at a time, into the glass.
The essential oils from the plants are very unstable in the alcohol solution, so adding cold water breaks the chemical bonds and releases the oils. You'll see the absinthe change to a pale, milky green as those oils are releasedâthat's the
louche.
Because different flavor molecules are released at slightly different rates of dilution, going slowly allows the flavors to emerge one at a time.
Continue dripping the water in, as slowly as you can, until you've mixed one part absinthe to three to four parts ice water. Then drink it at the same leisurely pace, without going to any extra lengths to keep it cold. As the drink warms, the flavors continue to emerge.
WORMWOOD
Anyone who finds absinthe intriguing should try growing a little wormwoodânot to drink, as making any sort of decent absinthe requires a stillâbut simply because it's a beautiful and interesting plant.
Many species are available at garden centers or from mail-order nurseries specializing in herbs. All of them sport exquisite, finely cut leaves. The one you're looking for is rarely labeled wormwood; ask for it by its Latin name instead. The plant can survive winter temperatures as low as â20 degrees Fahrenheit, but prefers a warm Mediterranean climate. Plant it in full sun, but don't worry about giving it rich soil: poor, well-drained, dry soil is all it wants. The plant will eventually reach two to three feet in height and width, but it can get leggy if it isn't pruned. To maintain a well-behaved mound, shear back half the foliage in June.
Â
full sun
low water
hardy to -20f/-29c
Wormwood isn't recommended as a cocktail mixer because the flavors are harsh and difficult to manage in a drink. Still, if you're planning on inviting some poets and painters over for an evening of absinthe, cut a few branches and bring them indoors to invoke the spirit of the green fairy.
Black Glacier wormwood, Roman wormwood, Sagewort, | White Wormwood, Yellow |
-- moving on to --
flowers
Flower: a complex organ found in angiosperms, consisting of reproductive organs and their envelopes, usually including one or more stamens or pistils, a corolla, and a calyx.
Â
Chamomile
|
Elderflower
|
Hops
|
Jasmine
|
Opium Poppy
|
Rose
|
Saffron
|
Violet
GROW YOUR OWN
Elderberries
|
Hops
Â
CHAMOMILE
Matricaria chamomilla
and
Chamaemelum nobile
asteraceae (aster family)
T
wo different plants in the aster family are called chamomile. Roman chamomile, or
Chamaemelum nobile,
is a low-growing perennial that turns up in lawns, and German chamomile,
Matricaria chamomilla,
is an upright annual. The German type is more widely used as a culinary and medicinal herb. It is also much less likely to provoke allergic reactions, which is a common problem with the Roman species.
The round, yellow center of the flower is actually a composite of many tiny flowers fused together, a common characteristic of sunflowers and other plants in the aster family. The German species is sometimes called
M. recutita;
the word
recutita
or
recutitus
in Latin means “circumcised,” suggesting that the rounded head looked familiar to some long-ago botanist. One constituent of German chamomile, chamazulene, imparts a surprising blue-green color to chamomile extracts.
