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By Carina Magyar in Herbs —

IX: Wormwood

How absinthe got banned, even in France.

nonidi, the 9th of Messidor, Year CCXXXI
The little wormwood leaves that cause big trouble. 

Good morning. Today is nonidi, the 9th of Messidor, Year CCXXXI. We celebrate l'absinthe, an herb used to make alcohol that can get you into big trouble.

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Wormwood, in ancient times, was used to treat intestinal worms, and was known for its bitter taste. The Greek word means "bitter water." It appears in the Book of Revelations in the Bible in the description of the apocalypse: "The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter." The Russian word for wormwood? Chernobyl.

Absinthe as we know it didn't truly exist during the French Revolution. Instead, the wormwood celebrated here was considered intestinal medicine with a history, going back to classical times, of also being prescribed to induce childbirth. It was an herb like any other, albeit extremely bitter. In this capacity, it was released to French troops in the XXXVIII (1830) military conquests of Northern Africa to help alleviate their stomach problems from having only had access to bad water, the herb being a sort of ersatz quinine. To stomach the bitterness, the troops mixed it with wine. They liked it, and continued to drink it upon their return.

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