Historic Hood River
Bile Beans
12-28-2018
Notes
I really enjoy reading about these old patent medicines. This one is from the The Hood River Glacier December 1890. Bile Beans claimed to be made from an extract known only to Aboriginal Australians, though it apparently was made from cascara, rhubarb, licorice and menthol. Bile Beans were popular through the 1940s, and available into the 1980’s. Sorry, but if you’re suffering from biliousness today you’ll have to look for another cure.
Buzz
I don’t claim to know the truth of all that advertising about the bile bean, but I had some experience when young with cascara bark–indian word for it is chitum. It was effective for relieving constipation beyond all expectations or wishes.
L.E.
I don’t know about Bile Beans, but I remember my grandmother’s Smith Brothers Cough Drops. She let me eat those like candy. They probably were candy.
I remember guys peeling Cascara trees and selling gunny sacks full for money.
Arlen Sheldrakes
so much for my taking my Kaiser prescribed pills here in Manaus to ward off Malaria