King - DIY Bitters

Enjoying a balance of flavors at the bar or dinner table is one thing. But there is interesting research that points to how incorporating the bitter flavor in our lives positively affects our eating patterns, too. Scientists at Italys University of Pavia (where bitter liqueurs, known as amari, are common) gave overweight adults a bitters formula containing artichoke leaves (up toward the top of the awfulness scale) or a placebo. During the study, which lasted two months, participants took the bitters before eating. By the studys end, those not on the placebo reported reduced appetite and consumption, along with lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels, and smaller waistlines.

Weve learned a lot about why this happens: Bitters change the way our guts work, especially when we taste them, making our stomachs feel fuller more quickly and affecting the secretion of enzymes that digest our food and the hormones that control our appetite. The deeper you dig, the more you find that omitting the bitter flavor really is like sleeping on the beach all dayyou feel sluggish, gain weight, and your digestion gets bored and shuts off.

This is why, in most intact food systems around the world, you see the judicious addition of the bitter flavor. From Italys amari and Indias bitter melon chutney, to Chinas bitters to cleanse the internal organs and Venezuelas fabled Angostura bark, these herbal formulas spark life, conviviality, and good health. In all cases, bitters are celebratory. They enliven meals and help with the consequences of feasting, not only reducing overconsumption, but also helping with indigestion, heartburn, bloating, and stomach upset. As such, bitters are often found as bookends to the mealtaken as an aperitif in sparkling water or a cocktail, and as a slow-sipping digestif (often in lieu of dessert). Todays clinical research validates these traditional indications.

Our current understanding is that, along with supporting healthy digestion, bitters also enhance the livers ability to flush inflammatory compounds and irritating substances from our bodiesespecially if used as part of a daily habit. In fact, bitters seem to be so good for liver function that ingredients such as milk thistle, a widely used bitter plant, have been tested for treating hepatitis, liver cancer, cirrhosis, and toxicity from drugs and alcoholall with consistently positive results.

Healthier weight, smoother digestion, optimal liver function, and reduced inflammationthese are the benefits of engaging with the bitter flavor. But there may be another benefit, too, one that comes from the fact that many plants used to make bitters are wild and weedy. Bitter plants such as Artemisia genepi, source of the alpine gnpi bitters, are rare specimens found in remote mountain crags. They bring a wild tangle of plant chemistry into our bodies. When we embrace these bitter plants, we also help spread botanical diversity, increase options for pollinating insects, and fight back against the mind-numbing homogeneity of corn, wheat, and soy in the modern agricultural landscape. In this sense, making and taking bitters are ecological acts.