Bitters

One of the most important ways that we can support the function of the liver and our need to detoxify at this time of year is by consuming bitter vegetables and herbs. Unfortunately, in modern Western culture we tend to be addicted to sweet, salty and fatty foods, and we avoid foods that taste bitter. This is one of the (many) things that are unbalanced about the modern industrialized diet, whereas traditional folklore diets contain a balance of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter foods. Our obsession with sweet and salty, and aversion to bitter, has some basis in physiology. We have a natural attraction to sweet, salty, and fatty foods because our hunter-gatherer ancestors needed a high calorie diet (thus sweet and fatty) to support their very active lifestyle. Salty flavours are also indicative of minerals in foods, some of which were more difficult to get. Unfortunately, this built-in attraction that served our ancestors has become a disadvantage in the modern context where sugar, salt, and fat are readily available. Bitterness, on the other hand, was often associated with poisonous chemical constituents (such as many alkaloids) in plants. Many of these chemicals are specifically produced by plants to discourage animals from grazing on them. Although they are not appropriate for regular consumption, many of these herbs can be consumed in small quantities as medicines. Even animals know this and will consume very bitter herbs that are not a normal part of their diet if they are sick. When I’m out in the wilderness, wild harvesting herbs, I often come across bitter medicinal plants that have been selectively grazed by herbivores such as deer and rabbits.

• Angelica Archangelica : Dating back centuries, it’s been used to remedy colds and ailments such as rheumatism. Its properties make it a stimulant, stomachic, and tonic. For liquors, it’s been used to flavor gin.
• German Chamomile : Matricaria chamomilla. A mild bitter herb used as a sedative and antispasmodic. Its curative properties include relief of both fever and restlessness.
• Dandelion : Taraxacum. A mild bitter herb used as a blood cleanser and diuretic. Also said to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Still used in traditional cooking in the Mediterranean and parts of Asia.
• Goldenseal : Hydrastis canadensis. A strong bitter herb used to stimulate appetite and eliminate infections. In Collections for an Essay Toward a Materia Medica of the United States (1804), Professor Benjamin Smith Barton declared goldenseal a tonic, observing, “The root of the plant is a very powerful bitter.”
• Horehound : Marrubium vulgare. Dating back to Ancient Egypt, horehound is believed to be one of the original bitter herbs of the Bible. It has been used for colds and respiratory ailments (such as in cough syrup and throat lozenges).
• Milk Thistle : Silybum marianum. Also known as “sow-thistle,” this herb was likely one of the original bitter herbs. In healing, it’s known as a powerful liver detoxifier, as well as an antidote for Amanita-mushroom poisoning.
• Peppermint : Mentha piperita. Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote of peppermint, “The very smell of it alone recovers and refreshes the spirit.” The ancient herb is used as a flavor, a fragrance, and medicine. Peppermint oil is used to allay nausea and stomach aches.
• Rue : Ruta. A strong bitter herb used as an antispasmodic, a sedative, and a mild stomachic. Mentioned in the Bible as “peganon” and in William Shakespeare’s Richard III — “Here is this place/I’ll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace.”
• Wormwood : Artemisia Absinthium. A perennial plant used as an antiseptic, tonic, diuretic, and stomachic. The herb’s strong bitter taste is still used in wines and spirits, such as vermouth.
• Yarrow : Achilles millefolium. A flowering plant that produces a mild bitter herb used as an astringent and cold remedy. The entire herb can be used.
• Gentia Root
• Devil’s Club Root
• Black Walnut Leaf
• Cinchona Bark
• Cassia Chips
• Sarsaparilla
• Wild Cherry Bark
• Orange Peel