FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
QUASSIA, PICRAENA EXCELSA Simarubeae, BITTER ASH,
Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]
is a plant of the West Indies. This tree yields the bitter wood known as jamaica quassia. Brewers are said to use the chops as a substitute for hops.
Garrett, Theodore Francis (edited by). 1898. the Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, W.C. London. Vol. III
is the bitter wood of the Picraena excelsa used chiefly for making bitters or as a substitue for hops in inferior beers. is a sort of bread made of unbolted rye, which forms the chief food of the Westphalian peasants. It is acid but nourishing.
Ruth Winter.1978. A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
QUASSIA EXTRACT, BITTER ASH, BITTERWOOD
From the wood and bark of a tree bearing bright scarlet flowers grown in Jamaica, the Caribbean Islands, and South America. So named for a Negro slave who discovered the medicinal value in the mid-eighteenth century. Slight odor, very bitter taste. Used in bitters, citrus, cherry, grape, liquor, root beer, sarsaparilla, and vanilla flavorings for beverages, baked goods, and liquors. Also used for fly poison on flypaper; to imitate hops; and as a bitter tonic and remedy for round worms in children. No known toxicity.