Ethnobotany of Zmeyovski pelin: A Traditional Artemisia-Flavored Wine from Bulgaria

Abstract

Flavoring wine with Artemisia species, together with other aromatic herbs and/or fruits, is a practice that has evolved in different parts of Bulgaria. The aromatized wine-based beverage, called pelin, is named after the Bulgarian common name for the genus Artemisia. In this paper, we present Zmeyovski pelin, the history of which dates back to the early 20th century. We employed semi-structured interviews with 15 pelin producers from the Zmeyovo village with an age span from 44 to 83 years. The relative frequency of citation for each stated taxon was recorded. We explored the changes in the plant knowledge of the pelin makers and discussed the drivers for it. From a modern perspective, pelin can be considered a functional beverage since the aromatic plants and fruits adds a variety of biologically active substances to it, thus enhancing its health benefits. We regard the consumers’ inquiry about the benefits of the added plants as a driver for mitigating the plant awareness disparity among the local community.