Chocolate of the Day:
3/4 bar
Venchi
Absinthium - dark chocolate bar (75% cacao) with Absinthe flavors
Very Good + - nice rich flavor combination and finish (licorice-like taste)
Weight: 1.185 oz. (33.75 grams) for 3/4 bar/ 1.58 oz. (45 g.) for total bar
Calories: 178 calories (estimate - info not on label)
Cost: $5.75
Purchased from: Cacao Drink Chocolate, in Portland, OR
I enjoyed sharing this dark chocolate absinthe bar (made in Italy) with friends on a summer eve. (Thank you Elise for the great dinner with fresh veggies from your garden.)
About Absinthe/A. Absinthium: (See info copied and pasted from
wikipedia.org entry below)
"...Absinthe originated in the
canton of Neuchâtel in
Switzerland. It achieved great popularity as an
alcoholic drink in late 19th- and early 20th-century
France, particularly among
Parisian artists and writers. Due in part to its association with
bohemian culture, absinthe was opposed by
social conservatives and
prohibitionists.
Charles Baudelaire,
Paul Verlaine,
Arthur Rimbaud,
Vincent van Gogh,
Oscar Wilde, and
Aleister Crowley were all notorious "bad men" of that day who were (or were thought to be) devotees of the Green Fairy. Absinthe was portrayed as a dangerously
addictive psychoactive drug.
[2] The chemical
thujone, present in small quantities, was blamed for its alleged harmful effects. By 1915, absinthe had been banned in the United States and in most European countries except the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although absinthe was vilified, no evidence has shown it to be any more dangerous than ordinary liquor. Its psychoactive properties, apart from those of
alcohol, had been much exaggerated.
[2] A revival of absinthe began in the 1990s, when countries in the
European Union began to reauthorize its manufacture and sale..."
