Herbsaint is a
brand name
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
of
anise
Anise (; '), also called aniseed or rarely anix is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to Eurasia.
The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, such as star anise, fennel, licorice, and t ...
-flavored
liqueur
A liqueur (; ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged beyon ...
originally created as an
absinthe
Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of '' Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Historica ...
-substitute in
in 1934,
[Jay Hendrickson]
Absinthe in America I - The Story of Herbsaint
, ''The Virtual Absinthe Museum'' at Oxygénée Ltd. (Access date December 7, 2010.) and currently produced by the
Sazerac Company
Sazerac Company, Inc is a privately held American alcoholic beverage company headquartered in Metairie in the metropolitan area of New Orleans, Louisiana, but with its principal office in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is owned by billionair ...
.
It was developed by J. Marion Legendre and Reginald Parker of the city, who had learned how to make absinthe while in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
.
[ It was originally produced under the name "Legendre Absinthe", although it never contained absinthe's essential ingredient, Grande Wormwood ''(Artemisia absinthium)''. It first went on sale following the repeal of ]Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholi ...
, and was unique in its category as an absinthe substitute, as opposed to a pastis
Pastis (; oc, Pastís, ; or ) is an anise-flavoured spirit and apéritif traditionally from France, typically containing less than 100 g/L sugar and 40–45% ABV (alcohol by volume).
Origins
Pastis was first commercialized by Paul Ricard i ...
.[ The Federal Alcohol Control Administration soon objected to Legendre's use of the word "absinthe", so the name was changed to "Legendre ''Herbsaint''", French/Creole for "Herbe Sainte" (Sacred Herb), the ''Artemisia absinthium''.
The Sazerac Company bought J.M. Legendre & Co. in June 1949. Herbsaint was originally bottled at 120 proof, but this was later reduced to 100 proof, then changed to a different 90 proof recipe in the mid-1950s. By the early 1970s only the 90 proof remained. In December 2009, the Sazerac Company reintroduced J.M. Legendre's original 100 proof recipe as ''Herbsaint Original''.][Todd A. Price]
Sazerac Co. reintroduces the original recipe for Herbsaint
''The Times-Picayune'', December 19, 2009. (Access date December 6, 2010.)
Cocktails
Herbsaint was and still is used in several cocktails, including:
* Herbsaint frappé
: Pour two ounces of Herbsaint into a thin six-ounce glass.
: Fill the glass three-quarters full with cracked ice.
: Add a half teaspoon
A teaspoon (tsp.) is an item of cutlery. It is a small spoon that can be used to stir a cup of tea or coffee, or as a tool for measuring volume. The size of teaspoons ranges from about . For cooking purposes and dosing of medicine, a teaspoonf ...
of simple syrup
Inverted sugar syrup, also called invert syrup, invert sugar, simple syrup, sugar syrup, sugar water, bar syrup, syrup United States Pharmacopeia, USP, or sucrose inversion, is a syrup mixture of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose, that ...
or sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...
and two ounces of carbonated
Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids.
In inorganic ch ...
or plain water, then fill glass with more cracked ice.
: Stir, using a long-handled spoon
A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily f ...
with up and down motion until outside of glass is well frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a g ...
ed.
: Strain into another glass that has been chilled.
: Remove the ice from the original glass.
: Pour back into the well frosted glass and serve.
It is also sometimes used in the Sazerac
The Sazerac is a local variation of a cognac or whiskey cocktail originally from New Orleans, named for the ''Sazerac de Forge et Fils'' brand of cognac brandy that served as its original main ingredient. The drink is most traditionally a combi ...
cocktail as a substitute for absinthe.
See also
* Cuisine of New Orleans
References
External links
The History of Legendre Herbsaint
1944 promotional booklet for Legendre Herbsaint
— Cocktail recipes and a brief history of Legendre herbsaint and the old absinthe house in New Orleans (1.76MB PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
format)
{{Absinthe
Absinthe
Cocktails with absinthe
Anise liqueurs and spirits
Sazerac Company brands
New Orleans cocktails