It is in its third maceration step of using a bouquet of herbs that give the absinthe its final colour. The green color comes from the chlorophyll, which dies off and gets paler. Unlike what most people believe and hear, the absinthe is not green, it is clear after the first, two maceration steps. The production of the absinthe has 3 distillations (macerations) steps. “I basically extract the essential oil out of the material, which is how I also make my triple sec, and gin.”, Mark HolinatyĪn interesting side note from Mark, that when the essential oil becomes separated in a cocktail, it is called La Louche. There is a line of separation that can be visibly seen. This is distilled with water so the essential oils do not become suspended in the water, but float to the top. This differs than the process of extracting essential oils for the purpose of separating the essential oils. The maceration process for distilling is the process of slowly distilling the wormwood with a solvent, in this case alcohol, to extract its essential oils that will be suspended in the liquid. After the 48 hours, it goes through a 6-hour hot maceration at 140f rather than slowly distilled. To extract the essential oils from wormwood, the dried clippings are put in a cold maceration for 48 hours with 70% fruit alcohol distillate. It takes someone with some experience with the plant to be able to maximize its use for absinthe. There is usually only around a week to week and a half of time frame that is just right to harvest wormwood to harvest it at its peek. And says wormwood matures in late July and early August when it has the right maturity for the best essential oils. Mark has several plots of wormwood on his farmland to harvest for his absinthe. But I think Mark has the green thumb when it comes to wormwood. I’ve been trying to grow tomato’s using hydroponics for the last couple of years because I hate pulling weeds. However, Mark declined to divulge his trademark recipe saying as each absinthe distiller safeguards their own recipes for this last important step. And that Wormwood on its own would be too bitter of an herb to be used by itself. However, Owner/Distiller of Great Gido’s Homebrew, Mark Holinaty, explained to me that the absinthe comes out clear until the last maceration step which includes other herbs which make the green colour, not the wormwood. It was the ingredient that is believed to give the green tinge to Absinthe. And wormwood tends to grow in dry sandy soil conditions. It can grow from 24 to 67 inches in height. With all the lore and fantasy about its halogenic properties, it is a weed that is naturally grown in a farmer’s field, which most people don’t even recognize. Wormwood is the mystical ingredient to Absinthe, that caused absinthe to be banned for a hundred years.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |