What is Swedish bitters?
Swedish bitters or Schweden Bitter is a tincture obtained from a mixture of herbs and mostly an alcoholic solution, left to macerate in the sun for about 15 days and then filtered to obtain the final product. This product has become very popular over time thanks to the well-known Austrian herbalist Maria Treben who disclosed both its uses and her preparation in her book "The Health of the Lord's Pharmacy". However, this recipe is not attributable to the writer. On the contrary, some say that Treben only brought it to light through an ancient manuscript containing the notes of a luminary doctor of Swedish origins, Dr. Claus Samst, a great admirer of this elixir who died at the ripe old age of 104. Others, on the other hand, argue that Swedish bitters were originally invented by Paracelsus, an important Swiss physician, alchemist and botanist who lived in the Renaissance. To create this product there is therefore no specific recipe, but there are a series of basic ingredients to which other herbs are then added, depending on the type of blend that the different producers want to obtain. The versions of Swedish bitters found on the market are not always prepared with an alcohol base. In some cases, even if in a decidedly limited number, they are produced with an aqueous solution.
Maria Treben's experience
Maria Treben was a Czech writer, passionate about herbal medicine and phytotherapeutic remedies. Her personal experience of her with a serious illness, typhoid, led Treben to take on new views about treatment and health. Having contracted typhus at a fairly young age, she carried the consequences of this disease with her for many years, which caused her numerous and continuous ailments, of a very serious nature. In reality, during these years Maria Treben, although she was now out of danger, continued to suffer from stomach cramps, diarrhoea, vomiting and severe pain which prevented her from sitting up or lying down..
She had learned to live with such disabling ailments, limiting her daily activities, until one day an acquaintance of hers showed up at her door and brought her a bottle of Swedish bitters as a gift.
The generous lady had recently become aware of Professor Treben's health problems and, knowing full well what the beneficial properties of Swedish bitters were, she immediately thought of giving it to her.
Initially Treben was very skeptical, so much so that she put the bottle in a place where she didn't usually go to use anything. After a few days, however, in one of the moments in which the stomach pains reached their maximum intensity, not knowing what remedies to resort to anymore, Mrs. Treben decided to try this liqueur (always very incredulous), only because she was convinced that it had no nothing to lose and, worst case scenario, he would continue to have pain.
That evening, however, something changed. The pain, in addition to disappearing, never comes back. And along with it, little by little, the other ailments that had been afflicting her for years also disappeared.
Professor Treben, very religious, immediately thought of a miracle, but then she realized that in reality it was that prodigious liqueur received as a gift that had healed her.
It is precisely from this extraordinary
healing that Treben's passion for medical herbs began. She conducted a study that lasted for several
years and, after having deepened her knowledge of numerous medical herbs, she published a book
that was a resounding success, so much so that it was immediately translated into more than
20 languages and sold in over 3 million copies: “Health from the Pharmacy of the Lord”..
The author wanted to point out that all things found in nature have their own function and many herbs
are essential to cure almost all the ills that afflict man.
Being a Catholic, Treben often stressed that medicinal herbs were given to us by God as long as we put them to good use.
That's why she gave the book that title. In it, in addition to talking about medical herbs in general,
the writer also analyzed the properties of all the herbs that make up the Swedish bitter
(thanks to which she could once again enjoy excellent health)..