FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
XYLOPIA GLABRA, BITTERWOOD
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 Jamaica. The wood, bark and berries have an agreeable, bitter taste, not unlike that of the orange seed. Freshly gathered from the tree, the berries are agreeable to the palate and grateful to the stomach.
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.
