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Information in other languages:

   

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This page is maintained 
by Dr. Lena Struwe 
(e-mail), and hosted by
Rutgers University
, USA

Credits

updated: 01/19/11 

Ethnobotany of gentians:
Bitters, aperitifs, sodas, digestives and other drinkable (?) beverages

Back to ethnobotany overview

 

 

Beverages: Gentians are commonly used in alcoholic aperitifs and digestives.  They have a very bitter taste and are used to improve the appetite and help digestion.  A few soda drinks has also had gentian extracts, such as Moxie.  Many herbs were and still are often mixed and infused in alcohol in Europe, and gentian is a common ingredient in these mixtures. The gentian species most commonly used for flavoring in Europe is Gentiana lutea.

      

Name Country  
Amaro Lucano
(with gentian, angelica, rue, sage, thyme, and juniper)
Italy  
Amaro Rabarbaro Italy  
Ambassadeur (gentian-infused)
(made by Cusenier)
France  
Amer Picon (with gentian, orange and quinine) (or sometimes only 'Picon') Belgium

(invented in 1837 by a Frenchman living in Belgium)

Angostura
(with gentian and orange and other herbs, but no angostura bark)
 
Trinidad
(the common plant name Angostura refers to the plant
Galipea officinalis, which is not a gentian)
Aperol,
(bitter with gentian, bitter orange, rhubarb, china bark, and other herbs)
Italy
Appenzeller Alpenbitter Switzerland
Arquebuse (l’Arquebuse de Hermitage) (digestive with 33 plants including gentian)    
Avèze
This brand was earlier called Auvergne (see below).

 

France

(link to comic with Avèze and Gentiana)

Auvergne
The company Raphael bought it, and renamed it Aveze (see above)
France, Auvergne

This liquor was created in 1928 by Émile Refouvelet.

 
Batavia    
Bonal Gentiane
(with gentiana and quinine)

Motto: "Ouvre l'appetit" = "gives appetite".

Campari
(the recipe is secret, includes over 60 ingredients and at least includes quinine, rhubarb, ginseng, orange peels and aromatic herbs, and among them gentian)
Italy  
Chantelune Aveyron, Francee)
Ciane
 
Pontarlier, France
 
Cinzano Bianco Vermouth,
(with artemisia, gentian root, clove and cinnamon)
Italy
Cocchi Chinato
(with quinine bark, rhubarb, gentian, and cardamom seeds)
Italy  
Couderc Gentiane France
Diablerets (Les Diabletets    
Enzian (with Gentiana lutea) Germany  
Fernet (with gentian and centaury) Albania  
Fernet
(with licorice, condurango, cardamom, cinnamon, gentian, and saffron)
Italy  
Fernet-Branca
(includes 27 herbs, including aloe, gentian, rhubarb, myrrh, cinchona bark, galangal, and zedoary)
Italy
La Fourche du Diable    
Gammel Dansk
(with angelica, rowan berries, star anise, nutmeg, ginger, laurel, gentian, seville, and cinnamon)
Denmark  
Gençamelica    
Geneva Gin
(with gentian)
   
Gentia    
Gentiane Arnaud  
Gentiane Bellet    
Gentiane de l'Aubrac; Gentiane d'Aubrac    
Gentiane Deribaucourt  
Gentiane des Peres Chartreux    
Gentiane Distillerie de la Chapelle    
Gentiane Distillerie Loius Coderc France
Gentiane Distillerie Perigord  
Gentiane Janot    
Gentiane Sauvage Roudaire    
Gentiane Théjy France
Graspamaro,
De Nigri distillery

Grappa with herbs, among others Swertia and Gentiana lutea.

Italy
Grassl Alpenbitter Grassl Enzianbrennerei, Germany  
Grassl Enzian Bitter (40% alcohol) Grassl Enzianbrennerei, Germany  
Grassl Enzian Kräuter-Likör (also sold in 5 liters jugs, 35% alcohol) Grassl Enzianbrennerei, Germany  
Grassl Gebirgsgentian (40% or 50% alcohol, also sold in 5 liter jugs)
 
Grassl Enzianbrennerei, Germany
Iza  
Les Diablerets    
Lioran Gentiane    
Le Missile Sol-Air    
Miclo - Gentiane
 
Alsace, France  
Moxie (soda)
(Moxie Soda outsold Coca Cola - history article; link to article about Moxie)

Moxie Collectors site

Needham Heights, Massachusetts, USA
Motto: "Never sickly sweet",

one kind of Moxie sold as "Non-Fattening Dietetic Moxie"

Nardini Amaro
(with bitter orange, peppermint, & gentian)
Italy  
Oberzamtreiber  
Planeze Gentiane France  
Penninger Enzian Germany
Peychaud's Bitter Sazerac, New Orleans, USA.
Bitter with
a gentian base, recipe from 1793.
Picon Biere    
Picon Zinc    
Pentanes France  
Pontiane  
Ramazzotti
(33 herbs and spices including gentian root, rhubarb, cinnamon and Sicilian orange peels)
Italy  
Rigi-Bitter  
Salers France
Schroffen-Enzian (40% alcohol) Grassl Enzianbrennerei, Germany  
Secrestat
(also called
Bitter Secrestat
)
It was produced in France (maybe also Argentina), and is no longer made.  It was popular during and right after the American Prohibition.
Stirrings Blood Orange
(non-alcoholic, with cane sugar, gentian extract and blood orange extract)
Made by Nantucket Offshore  
Sun 7    
Suze (aperitif, wine-based liquor flavored with yellow gentian, Gentiana lutea).
 
France

Invented in 1889 by Fernand Moreaux.

Suze uses Gentiana lutea industrially cultivated south of Paris to produce the famous bitter beverage.

Underberg (bitter)
 
Germany
Unicum [Unikum] (aperitif)
 

 

Hungary
Versinthe (Pastis mixed with gentian) Provence, France  
vin de gentiane (wine mixed with distilled alcohol and gentian extracts) France  
Weis-Flog Bitter  

 

References and publications

 

Links:

Gentian - a bitter pill to swallow (article from HealthWorld Online)

Old painted roadside advertisements for liquors

Bitters

Aperitifs and bitters history

 

© Lena Struwe, 2003

Note:  The GENTIAN RESEARCH NETWORK do not endorse or encourage the use of gentians or gentian-derived products for any medicinal purposes or as a cure for specific diseases and ailments.  The information is listed here for educational purposes only. The health value and safety of any of these plants and products has not been evaluated by us and we do not recommend any of them for medicinal use.
 

© Gentian Research Network, 2002-2011.
For corrections and additions, contact Lena Struwe at struwe@aesop.rutgers.edu