Dancing with the green...er...snowman...?

[mrph]

This may appeal to a few of you...

According to the Independent Just Rachel Quality Desserts are now offering a very nice "Fig, Honey and Absinthe" ice cream.


Hmmm. :)

Comments

[spangle-kitten.livejournal.com]

The combination that could possibly be wonderful or foul...

[zarbi.livejournal.com]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't absinthe one of those drinks that is mildly poisonous in some additional, non-acoholic way? Sort of like meths? (but probably not quite as bad)

[mrph.livejournal.com]

giolla and ninshubur can probably explain this much better than I can, but in short...

In ye olde days absinthe contained lots of wormwood - which contains Thujone, which is mildly toxic to various organs (and supposedly helped the absinthe cause hallucinations, too).

I think the contents have changed a little bit now, though. Or at least I've not noticed any interesting hallucinations... :)

[ninshubur.livejournal.com]

This would be the psychoactive effect of Thujone, the main active substance of Wormwood, an important component in Absinthe.
According to a very interesting book about Absinthe (Hideous Absinthe, by Jad Adams) some tests carried out in 2002 showed that a surviving bottle of a common Absinthe from 1900 in fact did have less Thujone than the dose allowed and considered to be safe nowadays (10 ppm). There might have been stronger, illicit stuff going around (and probably still does) but it is very likely that the amount of Absinthe required to get any really unhealthy and noticeable effect from the Thujone would lead to acute alcohol poisoning first. Often the alcohol used was of dodgy quality to boot.
There is quite a bit of evidence hat the vilification of Absinthe (mostly the drink of choice for the poor and the outcasts) simply was the only available "mission" with any chance for success for people with puritan, anti-alcoholic tendencies in the early 20th century in France, where the wine growers and cognac makers were far too strong to take on.

[purplerabbits.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'm having an icecream and drinks night, and I have absinthe, so...

Heh

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a plan. I'm not saying it's a safe plan, mind, but it's a plan... :)