frankvw
Well-Known Member
After comparing some gruit herbs by taste a few days ago (see my previous post in this thread) I did the same with Wormwood and Quassia, which I intend to use as a bittering agent. I followed the same procedure (pour 250ml. of boiled water onto the herb and steep for 5 minutes, then taste), however I only used 1/4 teaspoon of the herb this time rather than one teaspoon in order to keep the bitterness from going nuclear. I've tried to compare the taste to the bitterness of the previously tested herbs (keeping in mind that taste is always subjective) and then multiplied the below figures by for to compensate for the reduced amount. You will note that my initial scale of 0-5 has been catastrophically exceeded.
Interestingly, neither Wormwood nor Quassia had a harsh bitterness. While the Quassia is definitely more bitter than the Wormwood, the character of the bitterness is about the same. I perceived no other flavors, just bitterness. If other flavors are present they are entirely overwhelmed by the bitterness.
In the previous test Horehound was the most bitter, but also had a lot of astringency (suggesting that there's quite some tannin at work there) which made the bitterness rather rough and unpleasant. On balance, I would prefer to derive bitterness from Wormwood and/or Quassia rather than from Horehound.
Gruit Herb | Bitterness (0-5) | Sweetness (0-5) | Astringency (0-5) | Vegetal (0-5) | Other |
Wormwood | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Quassia | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Interestingly, neither Wormwood nor Quassia had a harsh bitterness. While the Quassia is definitely more bitter than the Wormwood, the character of the bitterness is about the same. I perceived no other flavors, just bitterness. If other flavors are present they are entirely overwhelmed by the bitterness.
In the previous test Horehound was the most bitter, but also had a lot of astringency (suggesting that there's quite some tannin at work there) which made the bitterness rather rough and unpleasant. On balance, I would prefer to derive bitterness from Wormwood and/or Quassia rather than from Horehound.