While enjoying the San Francisco Farmers’ Market in the Ferry Building this past fall, I happened upon a rare and exquisite shop, Culinaire. Specializing in culinary antiques that were designed for specific kitchen or table uses, the unique shop is filled with rare finds like the tools below.

Do you know what these delicate, silver-plated utensils were used for?

First Clue: They were not dessert servers. Although they may have been used at the dining room table, they were never associated with cakes, pies or other fine delicacies.

Second Clue: While they may not have served food, these utensils were part of a social ritual that revolved around a particular use of the plant, Artemisia absinthium, a woody herb that had been employed by people from ancient times to treat, among other conditions, intestinal worms. Worms? In fact, the common name for Artemisia is wormwood and we in Canada grow several varieties, the western sagebrush (Artemisia tridentatum) being native to North America.

Third Clue: Worms notwithstanding, the popularity of this herb rose to a frenzy in Paris and by the late 19^th century artists and writers like Picasso, Oscar Wilde, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Zola and many others enjoyed this anise-flavoured herb in one of the city’s 30,000 bars and cafés.

Of course, these are Absinthe spoons, used to hold a cube of sugar over which water was slowly poured into the emerald-green alcoholic herbal drink. If you look closely at the photograph above, you will see that the spoons were designed with a lip to affix them to the rim of the glass. Water-soluble components in the clear liquor dissolve into the water and cloud the drink, turning it from translucent to a milky opalescence.

At its peak, two million gallons of absinthe were being imported annually to feed the growing obsession (some called it addiction) of thousands of French people across all social classes. But by 1915, the French National Assembly had banned its sale. By then, all but a few countries (Britain and Spain most notably) including the United States had prohibited the making and selling of absinthe.

It is the active constituent thujone found in the herb that was thought to bring on loss of intellect, impaired speech, amnesia, hallucinations, convulsions and death. Almost as dramatic as absinthe’s meteoric rise, popular consensus turned it into a frightening and lethal enemy of decent society and almost within one generation, its use was extinguished.

With no evidence to show that absinthe was psychoactive, the ‘Green Fairy’ or ‘Green Muse’ as it was once called, has been amazingly restored to popularity–especially with young people. Many countries in the European Union have reauthorized its manufacture and sale and commercial distillation of absinthe in the United States resumed in 2007.

Liquor laws in Canada are a provincial jurisdiction. Is absinthe banned where you live? Check here if you’re unsure or curious.

What are your views on this intriguing drink with a checkered past? If you’ve tried it, what did you think?

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Photo of absinthe plant © David Monniaux, 2007. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license. Photos of Absinthe spoons © Pat Crocker.

Posted by Pat Crocker. Pat is a Home Economist. Culinary Herbalist is the term she coined to describe her work with both wild and cultivated herbs. She has written 3 herb handbooks and 6 cookbooks. Her latest, The Vegan Cooks Bible (Robert Rose) is available from Chapters or online from Amazon.com. For more herb facts and fun, visit Pat’s blog, Food Weds Herbs or her website.