Wormwood thujone

Wormwood contains thujone, the most mysterious ingredient in the absinth drink. For many years it was blamed for the murders of the family of Jean Lanfray. This man killed his entire family in 1905. Because he was drinking absinth, that must have been the cause of it all. The conclusions were questionable, but after that, a ban was imposed on absinth.

Wormwood thujone is a psychoactive ingredient that has different effects throughout the body. It stimulates the mind and helps cognitive functions, relieves from gout, used to treat appetite loss. Yet, its toxicity is well known. Recommended for ingestion when intestinal worms are detected is known to cause convulsions in large amounts.

People are curious about wormwood's thujone and its effect on the body. Many absinth brands take this into account and underline that they have a high level of thujone. The fact that many countries allow absinth as long as thujone is removed has helped create the forbidden fruit syndrome. Because authorities are removing it people just have to have it. The issue is more and more centering on to thujone or not to thujone. Absinth is available from zero thujone to a 100 mg/kg concentration.

To achieve such high levels, the herb is left in the alcohol for several days, squeezed and left to rest again. This process is called maceration and is not the was absinth was made. This process is of inferior quality, yet leaves the drink with the desired high levels of thujone. It should probably be called "Thujone" instead of absinth, because it's mostly pure thujone mixed with alcohol. The taste these drinks have are not at all similar to real absinth. Their main characteristic is that they have a lot of thujone, the price to pay, of course, is flavor. Wormwood's thujone is bitter in extreme, and the flavor is transmitted to the drink. This is true even if the drinks are distilled as it's supposed to and then wormwood essential oil is added to books its thujone levels.

It should be noted that in the original absinth drink, over 20 different herbs play a roll in fragrance and taste. Paying attention to just one ingredient is ignoring the true creation, which is an alchemic masterpiece. Some observers even doubt that woodworm's thujone was responsible for the effects alleged to the green fairy and note several other herbs that are resting there, ignored, waiting to be discovered. Not only the individual herbs should be taken into account, but the combination of these acting together to produce an unexpected effect.