How bitter preparations found a place in the medicine cupboard, at the dinner table and behind the bar.

In an English manuscript held by the Wellcome Collection, a short recipe carries a quietly confident title: “A very good bitter.” Compiled between approximately 1675 and 1800, the book brings together medicines, culinary recipes and household instructions. There is no elaborate introduction to the bitter. Someone thought it worth keeping and wrote it down.

The preparation combines Roman wormwood and chamomile flowers with gentian, cardamoms, cubebs and zedoary, followed by salt of wormwood and horseradish root. These ingredients are to be infused in white wine.

In a few handwritten lines, we encounter the practical world in which such preparations circulated: medicinal plants and apothecary ingredients, knowledge shared between households, and remedies preserved for another occasion.

Beyond these pages, bitters were acquiring new identities. They gained commercial names, distinctive bottles and a place in social life. Some remained medicines. Others were served before or after a meal. A further branch found its purpose behind the bar, where a few dashes could change the character of a cocktail.

Their story became as much about when and why people used them as about the plants they contained.

Wine still had a place

For readers following this series, white wine is a familiar presence. After the fermented preparations of our earlier chapters and the compound medicines represented by Hiera Picra, this manuscript brings us back to an infusion explicitly called a bitter.

Here, the botanicals were steeped in finished wine. The recipe gives no instruction to ferment them with grape must, distil the mixture or add sugar.

Older methods continued alongside newer ones. Wine infusions remained part of the repertoire as other preparations and uses developed. The history of bitters branches through these overlapping practices, each shaped by its ingredients, intended purpose and setting.

The medicinal bitter

One branch remained closely connected with digestive medicine. Bitter preparations were taken to encourage appetite, ease digestive complaints or act as “stomachic” remedies—a historical term for medicines intended to support the stomach and digestion.

Their composition mattered. A preparation centred on gentian differed from one containing purgative ingredients such as aloe or rhubarb. Some formulas were intended to stimulate appetite; others to move the bowels. A shared bitter taste could accompany quite different medicinal purposes.

The elixir tradition extended these ambitions further. A nineteenth-century French manuscript at Wellcome preserves an “Élixir de longue vie”, containing aloes, zedoary, white agaric, gentian, saffron, rhubarb and Venetian theriac.

Alongside the preparation came a story about an exceptionally long-lived Swedish physician. The remedy travelled with a promise: that it might preserve strength and prolong life. The manuscript records the appeal of that promise, although it cannot substantiate the extraordinary longevity attributed to its supposed creator.

The aperitif: bitterness before the meal

At the table, bitterness acquired another role. The aperitif marked the beginning of a meal: a drink associated with awakening the appetite, welcoming guests and making time for conversation before food arrived.

Sweetness, citrus, wine and aromatic herbs could soften or complement bitter flavours. The resulting drink offered a sensory pleasure of its own, while retaining its association with digestion.

France provides a clear example in Suze, launched in 1889, which placed gentian at the centre of its identity. A plant familiar from bitter preparations became the defining flavour of a recognisable aperitif.

Its purpose now included hospitality and anticipation. The occasion mattered as much as the contents of the glass.

The digestif: bitterness after the meal

The digestif belonged to the meal’s closing moments. Served after eating, it carried the expectation of helping a substantial dinner settle. Italian amari—literally “bitters”—became closely associated with this custom, although their uses extended beyond it.

An amaro brought bitterness, sweetness and botanical aromas together in a finished drink. Its particular balance gave it an identity that could become familiar across generations.

Fernet-Branca, created in Milan in 1845, is one enduring example. With a named producer and a recognisable bottle, a bitter preparation could build a reputation far beyond the household or locality in which a recipe circulated.

The connection with digestion remained, but so did the pleasure of lingering. The meal was finished; the conversation continued. The term digestif expresses that customary role and its intended benefit. It does not, by itself, establish a therapeutic effect.

The cocktail bitter: a little changes the whole glass

Behind the bar, bitters became a way of shaping flavour. Concentrated cocktail bitters are generally added in dashes. They season a drink, contributing aroma, bitterness and complexity while altering the impression of sweetness and the balance between other ingredients.

A botanical preparation that might once have been considered a remedy could now serve as one element in a carefully composed drink. Its contribution was measured by what it brought to the glass. In this setting, a small quantity could leave a clear signature.

One word, several purposes

The word bitters came to encompass several overlapping uses:

• Medicinal bitters, taken for a therapeutic purpose determined by the formula.
• Bitter aperitifs, served before food and traditionally associated with appetite.
• Amari and other bitter digestifs, enjoyed after food as part of the meal’s conclusion.
• Cocktail bitters, used in small quantities to shape the flavour of mixed drinks.
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These roles coexisted. Products could move between the medicine cupboard, the dinner table and the bar as habits and expectations changed. Their names might endure even as the reasons for reaching for them evolved.

From remedy to ritual

The handwritten “very good bitter” preserves a small moment in this larger history: a preparation someone valued enough to record. Beyond the manuscript, bitter plants found a place in branded bottles, café culture, family customs and cocktail recipes. Their medicinal uses continued, while new audiences came to know them through taste and occasion.

From the household remedy to the drink offered at the table, bitterness had become both a medicinal idea and a cultural taste.

Disclaimer: This article explores the history and cultural uses of bitters. Historical medicinal claims do not establish modern safety or efficacy. Alcoholic aperitifs and digestifs are not recommended as treatments for digestive symptoms.

References

1. Wellcome Collection. English Recipe Book, 17th–18th century. c.1675–1800. Manuscript MS.7721. Includes “A very good bitter”; see digitised image 19. Catalogue and digitised manuscript.
2. Wellcome Collection. Elixir for a long life / Élixir de longue vie. Nineteenth century. Manuscript MS.9289. French handwritten recipe documenting an elixir and its attributed Swedish origins. Manuscript catalogue.
3. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Gentiana lutea L., radix. Adopted 20 November 2018. EMA/HMPC/607861/2017. Documents traditional medicinal use for temporary loss of appetite and mild digestive complaints. Monograph.
4. Fernet-Branca. Un amaro che farà storia. Producer’s account of Fernet-Branca’s origins in Milan in 1845 and subsequent development. Company history.
5. Suze. Suze Story. Producer’s account of the gentian aperitif and its history from 1889. Brand history.
6. Angostura. Cocktails and Recipes. Examples of concentrated bitters used in small quantities to flavour cocktails and food. Recipes and uses.