Bitter Green Herbs
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Glen
Posted on: March 2, 2002

What other bitter green herbs do you carry such as dandelion that I might grow and eat.

I feel that bitter foods are more important in our diet than most people realize, so I am glad that you asked this question. Europeans have long recognized that a nip of herbal bitters after a heavy meal at night does wonders for the digestion. And when you think that one of the four main classes of taste buds we humans were programmed to have is the sensation of bitter (the others are sweet, sour and salty), then we get an inkling of how important bitter foods may actually be.

Besides dandelion, some of the herbs and vegetables we carry that could be classed as "bitter greens" are: endive, rapini, roquette (arugula), shungiku, sylvetta, epazote, and coriander (cilantro). Marigold, mugwort and wormwood can be used as bitter seasonings. There is also the balsam pear, also known as bitter gourd or bitter melon. This is very popular in China and India as a vegetable. It is also a medicinal herb used to control diabetes and to treat conditions involving the bladder, liver and spleen.

Back to Culinary Herbs and Their Uses | Q & A Index

Copyright © 1997-2024 Otto Richter and Sons Limited. All rights reserved.