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Advocating for Mugwort: The Benefits of Artemisia Vulgaris
I had proposed, a long time ago, of replacing Vulgaris for Pontica, along with the other coloring herb in the final stage of Absinthe making, when Pontica was difficult or impossible to find. Of course there was a bunch of naysayers who Poo Pooed the idea, I think it may be time to give Vulgaris another look…tasteA Chinese PHD, Dr Yo’u Yo’u received the Nobel price for the work she has done with Vulgaris. It contains an Alkaloid that is a very powerful anti bacterial, anti fungal, and most of all, it’s very effective in fighting the Malaria parasite. I watch a video from Korea on how “Ssuk” Korean Mugwort is prepared, and this may be the answer to making it more flavor acceptable for our Absinthe needs. It’s picked fresh and heated, (I’ll go back and watch it again to get the temp) and while it’s still hot it’s rolled to crush the cell fibers of the leaves. After this has been done several times, it dried and is deemed ready for use as a tea.I’ve used it as a tea, fresh with hops, as a bed time calmative when I’m feeling under the weather. But I’m going to give the Korean method of prepping it a go and use it in a small batch of absinthe. I used to use Pontice as one of the main flavoring herbs but I’m getting a little low so I’m only using at the very end with the coloring herbs. I used to grow it but it’s become difficult to find the plants. (it doesn’t grow from seed) So I’ll give this a go and make a batch of Absinthe as a test batch and let you all know how it goes.Kiwi(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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19 Replies
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I’ll be watching and waiting for this Bruce! I have Mugwort growing everywhere around my area and have used it in a gruit recipe more than once. I also used it with Yarrow and licorice root once to make a mildly psychoactive herbal drink. I also know a family related to travellers (Gypsies) who say the traveller community used to dry and smoke Mugwort in a herb blend, (Rosebay Willowherb being the other main herb) and it was referred to as gypsy tobacco.Make Booze, not War!
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In a Alan Bishop interview with Jesse from still it there was the tiniest mention of using mugwart as the coloring agent. it was quickly glossed over and never spoken about again, but being the historian and experienced distiller Alan i is suspect there is some historical evidence of its use.There are two types of people in this world.1. Those that can extrapolate from incomplete information.
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I have a Shade’s Sugar Shine going right now, so in a couple of days it’ll be done and run it and have a good base to work with. Tomorrow I’ll go down and pick some mugwort and try the heating and rubbing method. I’ll see how far I get. Like you Moose I have an abundance of the herb growing wild in the backyard.(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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Is there a scientific name for what you are calling “pontica” ?—————————-I live in a desert. So I get my flavoring spices in this form.
In the center of the island table in the middle of my kitchen, sits a mystery jug. It’s a 1 gallon glass wine bottle that has been reinforced by decoupage and painted. It’s plugged with a real cork, like an old-timey ceramic moonshine jug. At present the bottle is only about one quarter full; but with a remarkable wermut. And I don’t mean vermouth like Jame’s Bond pretends to put in his martinis either. I mean a subtle but attention getting digestif or apéritif. I have a pint of mugwort infusion or tincture that’s been soaking for a week or so now. I have bottles of neutral spirit and homemade red wine, down the hallway. Last year’s wine was decent, but I have a surplus and can part with it easier than with some older vintages. When its time I’ll slowly rebuild the volume of the wermut jug back up again. Adding spirits and herbs and wine back slowly, taste testing studiously, as I go.I encountered this explanation a short time ago, of authentic vermouth.Vermouth, It Isn’t Just a Hair Tonic Any Longer! This wormwood video was picked out at random. If you’re like me and don’t speak German, there is a trick anyone can use. Go to the settings button in the YouTube player and search around for, and use the closed caption “auto translator” feature. This woman is a little too mystic for my taste; at times I half expected her to pull out a broom and fly off. Omnia mea mecum porto
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Artemisia pontica aka petite wormwoodThere are two types of people in this world.1. Those that can extrapolate from incomplete information.
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Awesome post Contra. I know absolutely nothing of vermouth and never tried it. Great read. I think I may buy a bottle and give it a try I drink so much now,on the back of my license it’s a list of organs I need.
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Contrahead the girl in the video is calling the plant she’s sitting beside “Wermut” which is Wormwood “Artemisia Absinthium” (and yes I speak fluent German) But that’s a little small for wild wormwood and the flowers look wrong, their not yellow enough. Maybe it’s just to early and the flowers haven’t opened enough. The old Absinthe makers used Roman wormwood “Artemisia Pontica” or Petite wormwood as an herb with the coloring herbs because it’s not as bitter but still has the herbal flavor. It’s called “small or Petite” because the plant is considerable smaller than the Absinthium which can grow over 6 feet tall. It’s Pontica that’s used to make vermouth.(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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So the first two phases are none…Shade’s finished over night and yesterday I picked 30 grams of Volgaris (mugwort) I steamed it and rolled it six times (not the traditional nine times the Koreans do) I dried it over night and I have just under 10 grams. I’ll run the Shade’s and I’m good to go. I ordered some Artemisia Annua (Sweet Annie or Sweet Wormwood) I’d like to try that too, and seeds for Sweet Annie are available if I can’t find the Portica plants next spring.(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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I have been studying Herbal medicine for a while, and there are some very “wicker” folk in the herbalist crowd. I’m not saying they aren’t nice, they are very knowledgeable, but they call on the “earth spirits” for healing. I’m not judging them, they probably think my believes are strange as well, and they are. It just takes all kinds of folk. That’s what makes America so great. You can do YOUR thing, freely. So I’ll go jump on my flying carpet and fly away now.(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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The roots of herbalism are pretty “Out there” in general!I’ve also studied it a fair bit, and despite Culpeppers work being an invaluable source of knowledge, some of the stuff he believed and wrote about was bat shit crazy. Anyone with even a passing interest in the use of herbs really should read Culpepper.Make Booze, not War!
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Culpeppers complete herbal is definitely on my sort list.I just got a copy of A Treatise on the Manufacture and Distillation of Alcoholic Liquors by Duplais with the virtual absinthe museums additions. I’m hoping it’s really goes deep into to herbal details.There are two types of people in this world.1. Those that can extrapolate from incomplete information.
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I would be a total naysayer to the freaky spiritual stuff if it weren’t for the fact that I can Dowse (It’s also called “divination”) for both liquids and metals. It’s a trait I’ve past down to my kids. It proved very useful when they were working in the Telecom industry. Multiple times they found the electrical utilities maps were off and that could prove deadly. It still freaks people out though.So tomorrow I’m going to “dowse” my backside over and get my still running, and get this Shade’s done!(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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It doesn’t but the reason is it’s a loose overview of what was going on in various towns in France and Switzerland at that time. When it was written the town of Pontille in French alps had ninety distillers. So it has to be a very brief overview. However the bright side is, without it we would have no idea at all what was going on.(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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It doesn’t but the reason is it’s a loose overview of what was going on in various towns in France and Switzerland at that time. When it was written the town of Pontille in French alps had ninety distillers. So it has to be a very brief overview. However the bright side is, without it we would have no idea at all what was going on.Ah shoot.. still looks to be a good readThere are two types of people in this world.1. Those that can extrapolate from incomplete information.
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The French town was Pontarlier not Pontille.There are Head distillers note books, from before the ban, that still exist from many families that owned the distilleries. I was shown one once from the Granddaughter of a distillery owner, when I lived in the Black forest region. The distillery had been in Bern Switzerland, named St Georgen (St George in English) The only thing that I remember about the book was that two of the herbs, Fennel and Annis from the Trinity and the other flavoring herbs (and there were a lot, like eight or nine) went into the still with the spirit, 12 hours before the wormwood, that went in 10 hours before distillation started. So the other herbs soaked for between 22 and 24 hours in total. I can only think that this would have allowed the herbs to not be dominated by the Wormwood they were using, that may have come from Germany and been stronger than the Alpine grown herb. They stayed open making other drinks after the ban, but closed when the market in Germany went in the crapper during the Weimar Republic, after WW1.
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(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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So the three runs are finished.The only difference between them is the secondary Artemisia. They are aging/maturing in the fridge now.The recipe I used to make 1 liter….1 quartGrand Wormwood :- 50 grams……1.75 ouncesAnise seed :- 50 grams……1.75 ouncesFennel seed :- 50 grams……1.75 ouncesPontica/Volgaris/Annua :- 15 grams…..0.5 ounceAngelica root :- 15 grams…..0.5 ounceLicorice root :- 15 grams…..0.5 ounceStar Anise :- 10 grams…..0.33 ounceCalamus Root :- 10 grams…..0.33 ounceAll the herbs soaked in 70% spirit for 12 hours then diluted down to 50% for the run.Coloring Herbs…Pontica/Volgaris/Annua :- 10 grams…..0.33 ounceHissop :- 10 grams…..0.33 ounceLemon balm :- 5 grams…0.2 ounceThey all soaked for four hours and were the strained and bottled.The first thing is the color, they are VERY different from one another!Pontica…typical Absinthe color, light yellow green.Volgaris…like Romanian Absinthe green, like food coloring, bright Emerald green, no yellow. Annua….dark blue green.I tasted them that night, they all have a nice strong louche. I have a tasting scheduled Sunday night with two of my sons and a couple of their friends. This will give us a very reasonable assessment of the three drinks.I’ll post the results here and in a separate post.(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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I’ll be interested to hear your opinions when you taste them. I tried mugwort as a sub for Roman wormwood in the finishing step, but I was not at all impressed with the results, with regard to both color and flavor. I still drank it, though. It does make me wonder whether the disappointment I’ve experienced with the few US commercial absinthes I’ve tried may be due the absence of pontica in the finishing step. I suspect that there is a reason all the classic recipes specify pontica as a finishing herb and I don’t think it’s just to frustrate amateur absinthe makers!
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LOL You cracked me up with this comment… (It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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The Results.Let’s start with the tasting notes that I would use to describe drinking my version of a traditional 19 century Absinthe with Roman wormwood (Absintha Portica). The Absinthe is mixed with a little over twice it’s volume of ice water and three sugar cubes. The up-front first taste is a gentle well rounded Anise taste from the combination of Anise seed, fennel seed and licorice, with a noticeable herbal bitterness from the wormwood. Noticeable but not overpowering, as the anise flavor mellows on the palate it gives way to the lingering bitterness of the wormwood. It’s about as bitter as the hop bitterness left in the tongue by a well balanced IPA. As this fades your left with the herbal Artimesia taste of the small wormwood (Absintha Portica) and the earthy tones of Angelica, the invitation to another sip. Overall it’s a refreshing and revitalizing drink. The same spirit with Mugwort (Absintha volgarus) substituting the Roman wormwood (Absintha Portica). Note :- this is not just regular dried mugwort. I used the method of preparing the herb in the Korean tradition for making mugwort tea (Ssukcha) which involves gently heating the herb and crushing the leaf cell fibers by rolling the plant between the palms of your hands or on a bamboo mat, reheating and repeating this nine times and then it’s dried. It completely changes the aroma and flavor of the mugwort by doing this. In my opinion it greatly enhances the herb for absinthe use. The flavor of the herb is noticeable with wormwood’s bitterness right up front. An herbal Artimesia taste but quite different to that of wormwood, more “woodsy” and blends pleasantly with the Angelica at the end.Overall I was very pleasantly surprised by this and I would be more than willing to use this again as a substitute for small wormwood.The same spirit but with sweet wormwood (Absintha Annua) substituting the Roman wormwood (Absintha Portica). Note :- I became interested in this herb when I read the Dr Yo’uYo’u of China won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for her research into it’s use to cure malaria. The flavor of this herb is also noticeable with wormwood’s bitterness right up front however it has a definite sweet herbal taste that downplays the wormwood’s bitterness quite noticeably. It also has a stronger herbal Artimesia taste that downplays the taste of the Angelica at the end. Overall I was surprised how different this herb is to it’s two sisters. Not an unpleasant surprise just different. This might make a splendid flavoring herb to used in conjunction with one of it’s two sisters.Conclusion :- I will need to make a comparison trial between regular dried Mugwort and that dried using the Korean curing and drying method. As it stands the mugwort dried in this fashion is a very suitable substitute for Roman wormwood (Absintha Portica)The sweet wormwood (Absintha Annua) not so much. Where as the difference between the other two herbs are “pale” and a “lighter shade of pale” sweet wormwood is different, not unpleasant, but it is not a substitute for Roman wormwood at all. As already stated, it’s use with the other flavoring herbs may be a great addition. I will need to try this. ( I know, what a terrible burden, but someone has to do it! Oh the pain! the PAIN!) There you have it, a very pleasant fall evening tasting and discussing with friends and my sons. Over the course of the evening we each had two or more shots from each bottle, and no I was not drunk and yes I did trip balls! I think it’s the addition of the calamus. It’s also called sweet flag (Acornus calamus) and it, like wormwood, also contains psychoactive chemicals.(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John
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