Being familiar with dandelion root tea as a liver detoxifier and cholegogue( bile stimulant) but never having harvested my own, I decided to go pull some dandelions for their roots, and also brew some plantain tea. This is because they are both bitters.
Bitters are apparently helpful in digestion because they stimulate gastrin production, serotonin production in the gut, and ground people who are airy, vatta types in Ayurvedic terms. In other words, bitters are good for people who think excessively instead of acting instinctually.
I have a cup of tea brewing in the red pot I got from Lars back in 2008. My mood is stable. I am sore from soccer/ running/ and giving massages. I will document how it goes.
The book(shown below), an herbal almanac claims that plantain has helpful benefits for the colon, the kidneys, the bladder, the respiratory system, and that it cleans the blood. One is to drink 2-5 cups a day. Well, there is plenty of plantain in my backyard of two known varieties, Plantago major, and Plantago lanceolota. I have known that plantain is edible all my life. When we were children it was pointed out and then sort of spread via the web of minds that was our collective hive of heads. It is just that it is so, ...bitter. This is what is so good about it. In fact, it seems as though tasting it is part of it's benefit. We have 25 different receptors for bitterness on our tongues. Bitterness is in coffee, swiss chard, pak choi, cabbage, uncured olives, unsweetened chocolate, hops, turnip, radish, jicama, cauliflower, broccoli, miso, kale, soy, dandelion greens, dandelion roots, plantain, zuchini, hoseradish, ginseng,asparagus, brussel sprouts, arugula, orange peel, endive, and of course, bitters.
Apparently the German doctor, Johann Siegart, who emigrated to Bolivia expressly to aid Simon Bolivar fight the Spanish conquistadors created a signature brew of bitters, now famously used throughout the world in its bars. Angostura was the town bitters were manufactured in in 1830 and the tonic was so acclaimed that Emperor Franz Josef of Vienna has his picture on the bottle after a medal was given to the substance at the World Fair in 1873. Today Angostura bitters are lovingly dashed into manhattans, mojitos, and lemon-lime pop/soda. I will have to try this instead of lemonade.
