La Fée Verte – the absinthe

This is a special drink that I’ve always heard a lot of but never really knew much until I drunk it once in a very dark bar nearby. I didn’t drink it right but I knew it was special. It was first used as an medicinal elixir but in the 19th century it was a fashionable aperitif. This beverage is made from alcohol and distilled herbs, being one of them Artemisia absinthium.This one was cultivated near Pontarlier in east France, a village which has always been related to the history of this elixir.

So, how to drink absinthe? The "absinthe ritual" was part of the reason for its popularity and for the unique position it's always held in the pantheon of drinks.For starters a sugar cube must be positioned on a perforated spoon placed on top of the glass, then iced water must be dripped on the cube so that it is slowly dissolved and diluting the absinthe dose in the glass with the sugared water. The absinthe turns white as the essential oils precipitate out of the alcoholic solution. But there are many refinements which both enhance the pleasure of preparing the drink and subtly improve the taste of the finished absinthe.

There’s a lot to say about this drink. Writers, painters and other artists created great works around the green goddess. The prohibition of this drink in the beginning of the 20th century says a lot about its magic and its so-called “secondary effects”. Do you know anything more about it?

For this introduction I used information and pics available at www.oxygenee.com