Author: Lily Mazzarella
Bitters have been used pan-culturally, from Africa to Eurasia, as a natural tool to enhance digestion and appetite since our most primordial times. It would not be uncommon, for instance, to catch your primitive self nibbling on a bit of greenery along your post-hunt journey or rummaging in the village foliage after indulging in some flame-broiled bison. We humans learned very quickly that these bitter tasting shrubs growing all around often help ease our tummies after an unsettling meal.
In our more modern incarnation, we have come to enjoy our bitters, in style, as an herbal cocktail – sometimes before meals as in your classic pre-dining apéritif to stimulate your digestive tract or as a post-meal digestif in repentance of the decadence in which you’ve just indulged. Both are equally useful in aiding your digestion whether around meals or anytime you feel food is “stuck” or that your digestion is sluggish.