Page 34 - Summer2018

Herbal Bitters:

As Crucial as Salt

in the Modern Kitchen

By Guido Masé

itter herbs are woven through our cultural heritage,

from the Passover Seder to the modern cocktail bar.
BTheir flavor, although exotic nowadays, is an echo
of a long story of connection between plants and people,

from the days when our foraging lives required daily expo-

sure to bitters, through the centuries when these herbs were
considered essential tonics and antidotes to poison.

Many plants, especially those from outside the garden gate, taste some-
what bitter. People may use gentle bitters like dandelions (Taraxacum of-
ficinale); the docks (burdock, Arctium lappa, and yellowdock, Rumex cris-
pus); parsley family plants (the Apiaceae); or any of the infinite varieties of
mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). Over the years, herbalists also have identified
the plants that are consistently the strongest and most effective—the nasty
tasting stuff! These include gentian (Gentiana lutea), with its pure bitter,
lingering taste; wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), which is overlayed with
a camphorous quality; bitter melon (Momordica charantia), added to sweet
chutneys to round out a meal; the cold, devastatingly bitter and sooty kalmegh
(Andrographis paniculata); quinine (the alkaloid obtained from Cinchona
officinalis); and even the leaves of artichoke (Cynara scolymus) which, at
full strength, would make anyone’s face pucker.

32 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2018