I'm a fan of ansinthe. Best I've had was in Budapest.

J


On Mar 5, 11:27 am, Richard Wright wrote:
On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 02:59:50 -0800 (PST), "John J. Goddard"



wrote:
Thanks for the welcome. I look forward to the discussions.

Ever hear the term 'perverzija', Richard? My friend Gule says cooking
scorpion fish under the peka is a perversion. Whether or not Maraska
is lacing their hooch with wormwood, I think a lot of people I know
would frown on the inclusion as perverse. Wormwood is not very good
for you at all, and it doesn't carry a nice flavor. I also hear that
the reputed psychoactive properties are technically a myth. Rogaèica
(lozica infused with carob pods) has the bitterness you'd encounter
with wormwoood, and none of the poison. I think the best rogaèica I've
had was on Pelje¹ac.

John

On Mar 4, 2:27 pm, Richard Wright wrote:
Welcome John.

I take the point that domestic Travarica is whatever grasses and herbs
you care to put in the spirits. I was first introduced to it in Coca
Cola bottles in the Tuzla market place in Bosnia.

However I am confident that one of the commercial brands of Travarica
mentioned wormwood/absinthe as one of the ingredients. It might have
been the Maraska brand made in Zadar.

Well, I'm sure that millions of drinkers of Absinthe, both past and
present, think that the flavour of wormwood is nice. And if I am right
about Maraska's contents (and I must visit my bottleshop to see) then
millions of Croatians are happy with the perversion.

The only harmful attribute of wormwood that I know of is its alleged
psychotropic property. now played down (see Wikipedia entry on
Absinthe). I guess that Parisians sat mutely drinking absinthe
because of an insufficiency of nourishing food to go with the
absinthe, that on its own they could scarcely afford. So perhaps Van
Gogh cut off his ear because of a surfeit of alcohol, not because of a
surfeit of wormwood.

One recipe that is supposed to reconstruct the flavour of 19th century
Parisian Absinthe is to take 5 grams of fresh wormwood leaf (Artemisia
absinthium), macerate it in a blender with a small quantify of ouzo,
leave five minutes, strain the mixture through a coffee paper filter,
add the strained liquid to the remaining bottle of ouzo, add 2 level
tsps of caster sugar and dissolve. Dink diluted with iced water. But
beware - this may be dangerous to drink. I am no authority on
wormwood. I have tried it, but did not become addicted. I doubt that I
ever shall, to put it bluntly.