Medicinal Herbal Tincture with alcohol tutorial
Are you interested in making your own medicinal tinctures to use for yourself & your family?
Then look no further because today we will be talking about tinctures using alcohol as a solvent.
Medicinal Herbal Tincture with alcohol tutorial
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Let’s begin by addressing the first question:
What is a tincture?
Simply stated it is a liquid herbal extract that is made from fresh or dried soaking barks, berries, leaves or roots in a solvent. A solvent is usually a liquid that is able to dissolve other substances. Tinctures are super simple to make & they have a pretty good shelf life too. Under proper care & storage an alcohol based tincture can last indefinitely, a vegetable glycerin based tinctures can last 3-5 years & a tincture made with vinegar can last up to 1 year.
If you are interested in learning how to make tinctures using vinegars, vegetable glycerin or even honey stay tuned for future posts but for today's tincture we will be using alcohol. When choosing an alcoholic solvent you could choose from any alcohol you have available such as vodka or brandy. While some plants do require higher proofs than others such as plant resins, most herbal tinctures you are going to make will do just fine with 80 proof alcohol.
One thing to note is if you were making a tincture for a child, a pregnant person or anyone who is avoiding alcohol these are things you must take into consideration when formulating your tincture. We are not in the business of doing any harm & must fully consult the needs of whoever is going to be taking our medicines.
Mother Nature has provided us with a remedy to any ailment, disease or disorder but with that gift we need to treat her medicines & the people who are going to be treated with her medicines Reverence & Respect. This means it is your responsibility to make sure you are aware of any allergies or contraindications that the patient might have, but more on that in a minute.
Now that we know what a tincture is, the next question would be: What are the benefits?
Well our friends at the FDA consider tincture for the most part to be supplements & therefore have decided their health effects are unclear & not well-studied. The information I am giving you in this is not medical advice & is for entertainment & educational purposes only. Please be sure to talk to your dr & do your own research if tinctures are something you would like to add to your regime.
That being said, the benefits of a tincture will be determined by the benefits of the plant material you are going to be using.
Chamomile - anxiety, healing wounds & reducing inflammation
Ginger - reduce nausea in pregnant women & it’s a good remedy for motion sickness
Blessed thistle- Supports digestive health, helps with liver health, supports nervous system, aids with coughs, skin infections, menstrual troubles & lactation.
Echinacea- reduces inflammation, improves immunity & lowers blood sugar levels
Mullein- can treat respiratory problems, digestive issues, skin conditions & has many antibacterial & anti-inflammatory properties.
Valerian- can improve quality of sleep, treat anxiety & lower blood pressure.
Some plants do carry risk of an allergic reaction so please take that into mind when formulating a tincture for yourself or others. As well there are some herbal remedies that interact with medications so please talk to your doctor or pharmacist to make sure there are no contradictions.
Example: St Johns’ wort affects the liver biotransformation of drugs & hormones which could lead to an overdose or underdose of pharmaceuticals if you were to take them at the same time. Or sage can dry up breast milk so you wouldn’t want to give it to someone who is lactating unless you’re wanting to dry up the milk.
We do live in an age of information right at our fingertips so do your diligence & research the plants, flowers & herbs you want to use.
One reference I do like to use when formulating a tincture or any medicines is Secret Medicines from your Garden by Ellen Evert Hopman. You can grab a copy HERE if you like.
Medicinal Herbal Tincture with alcohol tutorial
So now that we know what a tincture is, what the benefits could be: How do you go about using one?
Since tinctures are generally measured in dropperfuls all you need to do is dilute a dropperful or two into a small amount of warm water, tea or juice & drink it. You can put it under your tongue & take it sublingually but if the solvent you used was alcohol it might burn & be quite potent tasting.
I don’t recommend just placing an alcohol based tincture directly under your tongue but you get to choose how you want to take your tincture. With that being said if placed & absorbed under the tongue it does enter the bloodstream quicker then if ingested in a beverage.
The measurements of a dropper are:
¼ teaspoon= 1 dropperful (35 drops) 1 ml
½ teaspoon= 2 ½ dropperfuls (88 drops) 2.5 ml
1 teaspoon= 5 dropperfuls (175 drops) 5 ml
The dosage for acute health problems would be ¼ to ½ teaspoon of tincture every hour for a total of up to 6 teaspoons per day. This situation is active & symptomatic so it’s necessary for the remedy to work quickly & efficiently.
The dosage for chronic health problems would be ½ - 1 teaspoon of tincture for a total of up to 3 teaspoons daily. For long term treatment it is better to give larger doses over a longer period of time because most often the key to addressing chronic problems is consistency. There is a limit to how long you can take an herb so you must also take that into consideration.
For example: a tincture made of dandelion that is supposed to help support the liver if taken for prolonged periods it may permanently cool the constitution of the liver itself.
Since we are not necessarily looking for immediate results but rather give the body the time it needs to heal when we give it the proper building blocks can certainly be a test of patience, but that goes back to the Reverence & Respect that these medicines deserve. It took a specific amount of time for the body to get sick, to be in disease & it’s going to take a specific (but not necessarily determined by us) amount of time to do its work.
Ok, so now that we’ve covered all of that How do you make a tincture?
Chop herbs fine & place them in a clean, dry glass jar. We want to fill the jar about 1/3 of the way full.
Pour enough alcohol over the herbs to completely cover them by 2-3 inches & seal the jar.
Place the jar in a warm, sunny spot & let the herbs soak for 4-6 weeks. If you remember to shake the bottle daily, shake it. Shaking allows the solvent to mix thoroughly with the herbs & prevents them from sticking to the bottom
Strain the herbs from the liquid & pour the liquid into clean glass jars with a tight fitting lid.
That’s it, it’s that simple. There’s one last thing I forgot to mention when making your medicinal herbal tinctures, enjoy the process & by intention infuse your loving energy into your concoctions, after all the energy you use to make the medicine will be the energy the medicine is infused with.
Watch the video & tutorial HERE.
