The Benefits of Bitterness: Amaro Making Workshop with Shay DeGrandis – November 9, 2024

Description

Amaro, which simply means “bitter” in Italian (amari, plural), is an herbal drink crafted from various culinary, medicinal, and seasonal botanicals macerated in alcohol and then sweetened for palatability. This classic Italian drink is imbibed either as an aperitivo, before dinner, or sipped as a digestivo, after a meal. Often thought of and sold in Italy as a health tonic, the bitter herbs utilized in amari (such as gentian, artichoke leaf, cardoon, cardamom, mints, star anise and wormwood) can help prepare the body to break down fats, assimilate nutrients, settle the stomach, kill harmful microorganisms, reduce gas production, and relieve a variety of discomforts that come with consuming (and occasional over-enjoyment) of rich, and undoubtedly satisfying, foods.

While digestive bitters and botanical liqueurs can be found in many different cultures, amaro is a distinctly Italian drink. The written history dates back to Ancient Rome when the gluttonous elite drank herb-infused wines to assist their digestion and settle their inevitable digestive upset. When monks established monasteries and began growing medicinal herbs, they shifted from using wine to stronger and more stable grape brandy and neutral alcohols. Much of the amaro found on the market today — Fernet-Branca, Averno, Lucano, Campari, Aperol, Cynar, Montenegro, (just to name a few as over hundreds of variations exist) — began larger productions in the mid-to-late 1800s and these drinks traveled across the seas as Italians emigrated to other lands. Similar to wine-making, it was private families who often concocted their own personal versions of amari to share with their family, friends and villages. For Italians with a long-standing relationship to their local, regional and familial drinks, sipping an amaro is a way to extend social time with community, connect with the gifts of the land, and tend to the physical, ancestral and communal guts.

Please review this link for our school’s tuition and cancellation policies.

Instructor: Shay DeGrandis

Shay DeGrandis is an artist, community herbalist, writer, death midwife, accidental comedian, and well-meaning but amateur therapist working in the Orlando area. She is a recent graduate of the Florida School of Holistic Living Community Herbalist Program and received her BFA from Florida International University (via New World School of the Arts), her MFA from the University of Maryland, College Park, and went on the study Art History at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She loves to spend her time in her garden, chatting with the plants.

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