Have Some Bitters – A Bit Before and While You Eat

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Bitter Gentian Root
Photo and quote by The Herbalist

“Gentian root is a bitter digestive tonic. It promotes the production and secretion of digestive enzymes and bile, improves gut motility and strengthens and tonifies the entire digestive tract. It supports sluggish digestion.”

Six distinct tastes were recognized by ancient India through Ayurveda (the science of life), bitter is one, the other five are: astringent, salty, sour, sweet, spicy (pungent)

Have Some Bitters – A Bit Before and While You Eat
Bitters include any herb with a noticeably bitter taste. Herbalists Ashley Davis and Carmela Cesare, owners of the Tonic Herb Shop in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, describe how bitter tastes stimulate the bitter reflex in us, sending a wave of secretions throughout the GI tract that improve digestion and assimilation, support liver function, curb sugar cravings, and gently detoxify the body. Bile salts and other gastric secretions that are stimulated by bitters can relieve indigestion due to food stagnation. The Tonic Herb shop offers three unique bitters they make in their shop using herbs grown by Mountain Rose Herbs in Eugene, Oregon, depicted below.

Many different kinds of bitter herbs may be used in combination and extracted with liquid solvents, such as glycerin, vinegar, oil, or water. If alcohol is used, the herbal extracts are called tinctures. An example of tincture is Mountain Rose Herbs Classic Herbal Bitters, shown below. It is composed of a blend of organic herbs, including: burdock root, fennel seed, milk thistle seed, gentian root, Oregon grape root, and elecampane root.

The Banyan Botanicals team are regenerative farmers in New Mexico and Oregon. They explain a variety of details on Ayurvedic bitter taste and outline how bitters clear heat, detoxify the blood, and rejuvenate the body. On their organic farms, they harvest bitter roots, barks, fruits, and leafy greens to make extracts and offer their own combination of bitter herbs which includes: cumin, dill, fenugreek, saffron, and turmeric.

Bitter vegetables and leafy greens make flavorful salads! Fresh organic bitter vegetables that Banyon Botanicals highlights are: kale, collards, yellow dock, burdock root, and Jerusalem artichoke (the root and artichoke may be cooked and refrigerated before being chopped and added to a salad). The same bitter herbal leafy greens that are used in extracts and tinctures are great in salads too, including: arugula, chicory, chickweed, dandelion, escarole, mustard greens, radicchio, and watercress.

Chef and Culinary Stylist Ashton Keefe provides an inspiring bitter salad recipe with shallots, sorrel, wild dandelion, and radishes, pictured below.

Cooking with bitter vegetables, bitter herbs, bitter oil, and bitter seeds makes a meal that is deeply nourishing and rich in complex flavors

With all bitter ingredients, except the salt, the Best Indian Food Blog demonstrates (2 minutes) how to cook the West Bengal, India, dish called Neem Begun. The begun (eggplant) and nigella seeds are slightly bitter; whereas, the neem leaves, mustard oil, and turmeric are strongly bitter.

Have Some Bitters – A Bit Before and While You Eat

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