Yes, absinthe is still made with wormwood. Grand wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) remains a core botanical in authentic absinthe production, just as it was in the 1800s. What changed over the past century wasn’t the recipe so much as the legal framework around it. After being banned in much of Europe and the U.S. in the early 1900s, absinthe returned to legal status with regulations that limit the amount of thujone, a naturally occurring compound in wormwood, rather than banning the plant itself.
What Wormwood Does in Absinthe
Absinthe is a distilled spirit flavored with a blend of botanicals, and wormwood is the signature ingredient. Two species of wormwood typically play different roles. Grand wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) provides the bitter, herbal backbone of the flavor. A second variety called petite wormwood (Artemisia pontica) is used during the coloring step, contributing to the drink’s traditional green color. Anise and fennel round out the classic trio of primary botanicals, but it’s the wormwood that gives absinthe its name and its distinctive bitter edge.
The compound that drew all the controversy is thujone, found naturally in wormwood’s volatile oil. Thujone blocks a type of receptor in the brain that normally has a calming effect on nerve activity. In very high doses, this can cause overstimulation of the nervous system, leading to convulsions in laboratory animals. That mechanism is what fueled a century of fear that absinthe was uniquely dangerous, a fear that turned out to be largely overblown.
How Much Thujone Is Actually in Absinthe
One of the most important findings in absinthe research came from testing 13 authentic bottles of absinthe produced before the bans took effect in 1915. Those pre-ban samples contained between 0.5 and 48.3 mg/L of thujone, with an average around 25 mg/L. Modern commercial absinthes made from historical recipes fall in a similar range. Statistical analysis published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found no significant difference in thujone levels between pre-ban absinthe and today’s high-quality versions.
This matters because it dismantles a persistent myth: that old absinthe was somehow more potent or more dangerous than what’s available now. The recipes haven’t fundamentally changed. The thujone was never as high as people assumed, and research has concluded that thujone played little to no role in the syndrome once called “absinthism,” which included hallucinations, sleeplessness, and convulsions. Those symptoms were far more likely caused by heavy alcohol consumption, sometimes combined with adulterants in cheap products.
Legal Limits in the U.S. and Europe
The rules differ by region, but both the United States and the European Union allow absinthe containing wormwood, as long as thujone stays below set limits.
In the U.S., absinthe became legal again in October 2007 when the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) issued new guidelines. The FDA requires that absinthe sold in the U.S. contain less than 10 parts per million (10 mg/L) of thujone. Below that threshold, the product is legally classified as “thujone-free,” even though trace amounts of thujone are present. The TTB also imposes labeling rules: the word “absinthe” can’t appear alone as a product name and must be accompanied by additional information. Labels and marketing materials are prohibited from projecting images of hallucinogenic or mind-altering effects.
The European Union is more permissive. Alcoholic beverages produced from Artemisia species (the botanical family that includes wormwood) can contain up to 35 mg/kg of thujone under EU Regulation 1334/2008. Other spirits not made from Artemisia species are capped at 10 mg/kg. Since most traditional absinthe recipes naturally produce thujone levels within or near the 35 mg/kg range, European distillers can follow historical methods without much modification.
Why Absinthe Was Banned in the First Place
The bans that swept through Europe and the U.S. in the early 1900s had more to do with politics and temperance movements than with sound toxicology. Absinthe was enormously popular in France by the late 1800s, and it became a convenient target for anti-alcohol campaigns. The wine industry, struggling with a grape blight at the time, had economic incentives to push for a ban on its competitor. Poorly designed animal studies involving massive doses of pure wormwood oil (not diluted absinthe) were cited as evidence of danger.
The science has since caught up. Researchers established that thujone does act on the nervous system by blocking receptors that normally calm neural activity, which explains why extremely large doses cause seizures in lab animals. But the amounts present in a glass of absinthe, even a strong one, are far too low to produce those effects. You would suffer severe alcohol poisoning long before consuming enough absinthe to reach a dangerous thujone dose. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that thujone is rapidly broken down by the body, further limiting its effects at the concentrations found in the drink.
How to Tell If Your Absinthe Contains Real Wormwood
Not everything sold as absinthe is made the same way. Some cheaper products are simply anise-flavored spirits with green food coloring and no wormwood at all. Authentic absinthe is distilled with grand wormwood, anise, and fennel at minimum, and often includes a longer list of herbs like hyssop, melissa, and coriander.
A few things to look for: traditionally made absinthe louches, meaning it turns cloudy when you add cold water, because essential oils from the botanicals come out of solution. The green color in a quality absinthe comes from chlorophyll introduced during the coloring step with petite wormwood and other herbs, not from artificial dyes. If the color is unnaturally vivid or neon, that’s a red flag. Checking the ingredient list or the producer’s website for mention of Artemisia absinthium is the most straightforward way to confirm you’re getting the real thing.
In the U.S., every bottle of absinthe on store shelves has passed TTB approval, which means it contains less than 10 ppm of thujone. In Europe, you’ll find products with slightly higher thujone content, closer to what was in pre-ban bottles. Either way, the wormwood is there. It never really left.