Take your Bitters!

You know how Mary Poppins says, “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down?” This can certainly be the case sometimes, but did you know that the sharp sensation under your tongue when you take bitters is a part of what makes the plant medicine work in your body? It’s like an alarm clock for your digestive system, telling your liver and gallbladder to wake up and get to work. 

Where does this bitter taste and its medicine come from? Bitter constituents are found in a variety of plants. Sometimes we are using the root, sometimes the bark, and sometimes the above ground or “aerial” portions. Really it depends on the plant and which part of it holds the medicine!

Bitter roots are often common weeds living all around us and quietly doing their work. Dandelion, burdock, and yellow dock are incredible medicinals, while also considered by some maybe less discerning eyes to be noxious and obnoxious weeds and not much else. Really though, these plants are drawing minerals and energy up from the soil into their beings so that they might draw out from our bodies an excess of heat, toxins, or general stagnation. These common seeming plants are doing the work of balancing our digestives while also replacing the minerals that have been depleted over time. Whew! Plant medicine is complex, yet so simple in its intentions.

 But it’s not just the roots that have something to offer. Plants like chamomile and anise are bitter florals that are a little more showy, not just to the eyes but the nose as well. Small, sweet flowers that are aromatic and so cheerful to the spirit, these bitters tell your body to get things moving while also providing a soothing element, relaxing muscles and calming a cramping digestive system. Personally I find that just being around chamomile and interacting with it in the garden is calming; and much more so when its medicine is working within my body. This medicine works well for children who become anxious with stomach aches (or vice versa), as chamomile is also a champion of calming the nervous system.

So when you’ve had a little too much pie or just generally overdone things with your belly, remember that it’s important not to mute the bitter flavor. Let that bitterness bring some sweet relief to your body. Because in this case, a spoonful of sugar makes the potency go down!