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The Rise of Malört, an Unexpected Midwest princess

(www.nytimes.com)
79 points mooreds | 3 comments | 20 Nov 24 14:48 UTC | HN request time: 0.604s | source
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0points ◴[20 Nov 24 15:15 UTC] No.42194586[source]▶
Malört is the name of the herb wormwood in Swedish. The swedish name means "clothing moth herb", and has been used to fight cloth moths among other uses. Also especially popular spirit flavoring, which it's latin name hints of.

Artemisia absinthium

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tptacek ◴[20 Nov 24 15:39 UTC] No.42194852[source]▶
I'd imagine there's as much actual wormwood in Malort as there is fruit in a Froot Loops.
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1. dracyr ◴[20 Nov 24 17:20 UTC] No.42196143[source]▶
Not sure about the ones mentioned in the article, but for the kind I'm used to (i.e Bäsk) in Sweden it's a given.

In our family it's generally been a tradition to go out in the night of August 24th each year to pick some wormwood, and then infuse some plain alcohol with it to have for the coming months. We generally don't leave it in as long recipes call for though, 24h instead of multiple days so the taste is a bit milder.

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2. strictnein ◴[20 Nov 24 17:23 UTC] No.42196166[source]▶
Anything special about August 24th that makes it the day to do this?
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3. dracyr ◴[20 Nov 24 17:39 UTC] No.42196341[source]▶
Its the day when all farmers should be done harvesting and autumn officially begins according to "Bondepraktikan" [1], which says to be done by St Bartholomews day.

Like many old traditions the reasons have for many become lost to time, and now it's an accepted fact that that's the magical night to get some wormwood.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Farmer%27s_Almanac