Bitterleaf

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

bitterleaf a name given to Vernonia amygdalina, an African shrub, and some other plants of the same genus. The leaves are used in W. and S. Africa as a pot-herb or for seasoning. Cultivation, practised on a small scale, had produced plants whose leaves are less bitter than those gathered from the wild.

These leaves are readily available in Nigerian markets, either fresh or dried.