A Definitive Guide to Bitters

The Holistic Herbalism Podcast

Welcome to 2025, everyone! Let’s give the year a bitter start – that’s better than a bitter end, right? If you don’t think so yet, listen to this episode and by the end, we’re sure you’ll agree!

Bitters are a truly indispensable piece of an herbal toolkit. They – like demulcents, adaptogens, and alteratives – can achieve things in the body which pharmaceuticals, acupuncture, and other healing modalities simply cannot replicate. Bitters are one of the herbalist’s superpowers!

In this episode, we cover:

• bitter as signal – and why their actions on the body are nearly immediate
• bitter deficiency syndrome – a uniquely modern human problem
• energetics of bitters – is bitter always cooling, or is it more complicated than that?
• actions of bitter herbs – digestion-activating, fluid-draining, liver-awakening… mind-centering…
• bitter-tasting constituents – and an ode to the flexibility & variety of bitter taste receptors
• subcategories of bitter herbs: pure bitters, mild bitters, aromaic bitters, inulin/berberine/artemisinin-bearing bitters, fungal bitters, warming/relaxant/moistening bitters, …
• how to take bitters – drops, sips, chews, and more.

Since they’re so helpful – and really, not only for digestion – we address bitter herbs in many of our courses. Quite possibly all of them, now that we think about it! They’re that important. Bitters get a significant mention in:

• Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica
• Herbal Medicine-Making
• Holistic Nutrition & Digestive Health
• Basic Phytochemistry
• Neurological & Emotional Health

Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!

If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!