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The Power of Bitters: Plant Compounds for Digestion and Metabolism

  • Walworth Garden 206 Manor Place London, England, SE17 3BN United Kingdom (map)

Workshop: The Power of Bitters: Plant Compounds for Digestion and Metabolism

This practical, interactive and hands on workshop is an opportunity to explore the remarkable natural history of our bodily connections with bitter plant chemicals and their ability to strengthen our digestive and metabolic functions. We will explore the potency of the weeds and herbs that grow in our gardens and in the wild edges of the city and the great health benefits they can bring to our systems and wellbeing.

Together we will cover:

  • A brief overview of how plant compounds are synthesised

  • The history of bitters in human culture and health

  • Physiology of how bitter plants affect our bodily form and function; the bitter taste in global culture and the shift from this to sweet tastes

  • Participatory herb tastings in group to discover our individual responses to the tastes of plants

  • Key bitter herbs and remedies that are valued in herbal healthcare and their actions in our body tissues, organs and systems

  • The making of a bitter tonic preparation to take home

This session is ideal for anyone who is in plants, foods, health, our bodies, chemistry, biology, history, politics and cultural exchange! It will leave you excited about the amazing powers of plants, in wonder about our evolutionary connections with them, inspired to look into their potential for your health and wellbeing, and more knowledgeable on specific plants and the healing activity of ‘bitters.’


Meet Rasheeqa

Rasheeqa (Hedge Herbs) is a herbalist in her community in Walthamstow in north London. She has been practicing since 2012, offering treatment with herbal medicine and teaching about its many aspects, alongside a wider mix of work whose aim is connecting us as communities with the potential of this knowledge and craft as a way to develop healthier living systems and relationships.

She is an instigator of the Community Apothecary in her locality, a project that brings community members together around a patchwork of medicinal herb gardens where we can learn about growing, wildcrafting and making medicines together, which are then available to the community. The vision is to co-create thriving mutual healthcare systems, sharing knowledge, peer support and the model so that we can create landscapes of healing everywhere.


Price: £85

Note for Southwark residents: Looking to book a free place? Unfortunately, our limited quota of free places for the 2022-23 academic year have now been claimed. We will be releasing a refreshed number of free places, along with a new calendar of workshops, in Autumn 2023 so please check back then. Subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on social media, at the bottom of this page, to be notified.

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Bonsai on a Budget

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Introduction to Gardening