Bitters - What are they?

I have used bitters on and off for my whole life thinking that they were those bitter herbs that are good for your liver and digestion and overall health.

I knew that Italians have their own bitters like broccoli rabe, escarole, arugula, radicchio and fully grown endive. Fully grown endive looks like a head of lettuce with sharply curly leaves and is a bit bitter. Immature endive is white and it’s leaves are mild tasting and is used a lot for dips because they are shaped like a little boat. 

Immature endive is not a bitter, but I just wanted to differentiate it as it could be confusing finding these two very different things both being called endive in the supermarket. And I wouldn't want anyone trying to clean out their liver with those white leaves.

So when I heard the term Swedish bitters, I thought it was just a list of Swedish vegetables that had similar properties. And then digestive bitters were just lumped in as a kind of synonym for Swedish bitters.

So guess what? I decided to look up the word bitters. The dictionary can change everything. 

Well, usually it clarifies things, but in this case, wow, what a confusion! The dictionary only had 2 definitions and they both applied to flavoring beer and other alcoholic drinks. Some references said that these bitters were derived from medicinal use and others said it was the other way around.

So then I looked up digestive bitters and I could see where the confusion comes from because many drinks I am familiar with from my dancing days at bars are called digestive bitters. Who knew? 

I ordered “Yager” shots because I loved the licorice taste. Jägermeister its actual name is considered a German digestive bitter and is used before a meal as an aperitif, which means an appetizer, or in detail, something that opens up the stomach and causes the flow of digestive juices from the pancreas, stomach acid and bile, the three things needed for digesting food. But it could also be used after dinner as a digestive to help digest the meal.

As an Italian I am of course familiar with the orange flavored Aperol and the cherry flavored Campari, but I didn’t know I was improving my digestion with it. I just always drank for taste. They are considered digestive bitters.

But I did learn something about Amaros. When I saw that, I thought about Amaretto. I love the taste of Amaretto. It is an Italian sweet tasting almond liqueur. But Amaros, which my family didn’t have, were blends of bitter botanicals that aided digestion but tasted bitter. That’s probably why we didn’t have it. I found out that Amaro means bitter. Amaretto means a little bitter. Come to think of it there is a very slight bitter from the bitter almond in that mostly-sweet, delicious taste. All this time I thought Amaretto meant almond or something.

Then there is Unicum, a Hungarian drink called Hungarian bitters and it has its own unique blend to rev up digestion.

Well, I was expecting a list of herbs used in a tincture of sorts to help digestion, not a list of hard liquor used in small amounts. Sometimes the dictionary isn’t quite up to date and maybe since digestive bitters is more a European thing it did not have quite the definition I was looking for. But then again, tinctures in large amounts would be hard liquor. So who knows which came first. Maybe they developed along simultaneously. Both Herbology and alcoholic beverages have existed since the very beginning of man. No wonder there is a discrepancy as to which came first.

Well, Google was more comprehensive but still leaned toward things you can find in a bar mostly as flavorings for mixed drinks.  But here is their list of bitter herbs used to do this which are also on the roster of medicinal herbs:

• Gentian: A bitter root known for stimulating digestive juices.

• Dandelion: Supports liver function and bile production.

• Burdock Root: A gentle digestive tonic that supports liver function and is antioxidant rich and detoxifies the blood.

• Wormwood: A bitter herb used to stimulate appetite and aid digestion.

• Artichoke Leaf: Supports bile production and has antioxidant properties.

• Bitter Melon: Contains bitter compounds that support digestion and bile release.

• Ginger: A warming herb that can help settle the stomach and ease nausea. 

• Angelica Root: Used for heartburn, intestinal gas, loss of appetite, and improved circulation. 

• Cascarilla Bark: Has a pleasant odor and so is used in tobacco products as well. It aids digestion.

• Cinchona Bark: Also the source of quinine which is known for being a cure for Malaria as well as the main ingredient in the very common tonic water used to flavor mixed drinks.

• Milk Thistle: Considered a bitter even though only slightly bitter because it is well known for its huge benefit to the liver. And it is part of the flavor profile in some gins.

Isn’t that interesting? I never thought that you could find anything healthy in a liquor store or bar, but used in small amounts there is a kind of medicinal tradition. Come to think of it, it reminds me of how my father handled a toothache I had with a Q-tip and a bottle of whiskey when I was a kid. I guess now you know if you are in a pinch with some indigestion and the stores are closed, you can go to a place with a bar and order a shot.  Ha ha.

Looking up Swedish Bitters told a little more: Swedish bitters were traditionally a mixture of herbal extracts that helped the body’s organs work in a synergistic manner. It was also known as a detoxifier.  There are loads of anecdotal evidence about this mixture of herbs for everything under the sun, but for marketing purposes and simplicity they have been referred to as digestive bitters, missing most of the story.

A few renowned nutritionists have popularized Swedish bitters to replace antacids, but one emphasized only 14 herbs out of the 32 in the original formula and another used 22. But then that’s  what happens when you only concentrate on a specific effect.  The Original Swedish bitters worked on the whole body for overall health and synergy, not just digestion. At this point I was unable to even find the full list of original herbs. And also instead of the very strong alcoholic extracts that used to be used, they only now offered aqueous extracts.

Now it’s nice to know that bitters can come to the rescue when you have digestive discomfort, but why do you have digestive discomfort? I would like to refer you to an earlier blog on Natural Indigestion remedies. It is very comprehensive. The digestive system works a certain way and it would be better to align your practices to not violate its working order. That blog outlines the subject in detail. It also covers some of those herbs that are considered the best bitters without mentioning the word bitters. 

That’s because at the time I didn’t know the other definitions of bitters. Like I said at the start, I was using the definition that refers to those wonderful bitter vegetables that fix what ails you usually aimed at helping the liver and therefore the digestion because that is where bile comes from. This is making me hungry for a nice plate of escarole sautéed in olive oil and garlic. Wonderful during the holidays especially to turn everything right after all that overindulging, but soothing, delicious and nutritious at any time.

So, I think we can conclude that bitters are good for helping the liver, digestion and overall health because digestion is fundamental to health. Bitter compounds in these foods herbs and spices are basically alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, sterols and other astringent compounds. They are called bitters because they at least have some property of being bitter which makes body tissue contract like your tongue and mouth do when you contact too much of it. 

Bitter compounds can be used by eating vegetables that contain them, like bitter melon, escarole or endive, etc. But you can’t always find those vegetables and maybe you don’t have the time to make yourself a nice sauté, so tinctures can be utilized. Mixtures of these tinctures are called bitters whether you get them at a health food store or a bar.

Bitters can come to the rescue for those times we overindulge without making the problem worse as with antacids, but if you have a chronic need for them, you have to get back to the healthy fundamentals like, not overeating, chewing your food, not eating poor combinations and other things fully covered in the Indigestion blog. 

Almost every herb that Herbal Roots carries is in one way or another good for your digestion even if it isn’t earmarked for digestive problems. All the systems of the body work together.

Thanks for joining me on my little adventure and I hope you learned as much as I did or at least something you didn’t know about bitters.

*This article is intended for informational purposes. The statements above have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.