Herbal remedy preparations Tincture, Tea, Infused oil

There is many way of preparation herbs as remedy. Below I will describe 3 most common used which is Tea, Tincture and Infused oil. To create each of them you will ned medicinal quality herbs and solvent which will be water, alcohol, vinegar, glycerine or oil. If you expect medicinal effect from herbs make sure you purchase them from proven Herbalist supplier or directly from Herbalist, always ask supplier for certificates confirming genuine and purity of the herbs. To create tincture you can use single herb or herbal blends. Water should be at least spring, better filtered or purified, if you must use home supplied water boil it few minutes. Alcohol, ideal will be ethanol 95% (diluted by you to tincture needs) this can be bought in UK visiting Polish grocery shops or during travel aboard in World duty free shops, most cases vodka will do to. Vinegar, Apple cider vinegar with life mother or pasteurised. Glycerine vegetable 100%. Oils, Olive oil is most popular chose between Herbalist, but also goose fat/castor oil has some popularity.

Herbal Teas

Herbal tea will extract from herbs water-soluble constituents (like tannins and
bitters) but will not readily extract components like resins, oils, or alkaloids,
which are less soluble in water. Alkaloids can be made more soluble in tea by the
addition of a splash of vinegar to lower the pH.

You can also use herbal teas as a foot or hand soak, a gargle, an enema or a douche, inhale, in a bath, or as a compress.

Teas are made either by infusion (steeping herbs in water), decoction (simmering herbs in water) or cold infusion (macerating herb in cold water). A medicinal tea would usually be made at a 2-5g of herbs per cup of water. A typical dose for herbal tea is 2-3 cups daily, most cases taken 30 minutes before meal. I found out that patients not always have time to make 3 fresh tea per day, especially decoctions are time consuming preparations, they forget or too busy, so I always advice make 1 portion for whole day or sometimes 2 days, using big jar use 6g-30g of herbs and pouring over 3 cups of water. Also creating tea from few ingredients, when using herb parts which required both decoction and infusion, can be simplify, by first making decoction and at the end of simmering add infusion herbs to decoction and step it under cover, that is very handy and practical. Always keep remaining liquid in refrigerator, warm or drink cold.

Infusions. These are used to prepare leaves, stems, flowers, and other soft
plant tissues. Put the shredded herbs into a teapot or a glass or stainless-steel vessel and pour the boiling water over them. Steep the herbs under cover for about 10-15 minutes, strain and drink the infusion hot or cold, as the condition requires.

Decoctions. These are used to prepare roots, twigs, berries, and other hard
plant tissues. Put the crushed/milled/shredded/powdered herbs into a stainless-steel, glass or enamelled pan. Cover them with water, bring it to a boil under cover, then simmer for 10-35 minutes.

 

Cold infusions. Those are prepared from high mucilage content plants, plants containing constituents sensitive to high temperatures. Add crushed/shredded herbs in to pan, add room temperature water and allow step for 12h, preferably overnight.

It is important to always cover teas with a lid while infusing or simmering to
capture any volatile oils that condense on the lid, so they fall back into the tea.
It is always advisable to use pure spring or filtered water to make your infusion
or decoction. If you strain out the spent herbs after steeping them, the resulting tea can be kept for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator.

Tinctures

Tinctures are made with a solvent to extract all the fat-soluble constituents
like resins and alkaloids, as well as the water-soluble ones. In most cases as
solvent we will use alcohol (usually ethyl alcohol), next is vinegar and rarely glycerine is also used.

For Tinctures we use 25%-95% alcohol. To prepare tincture we use alcohol mixed with water (or instead of water you can first make infusion from herb which you want to extract and use that as replacement of water to prepare right % of alcohol dilution, that will give you really full-spectrum extraction). A tincture must always be at least 25% alcohol to ensure shelf stability. Remember that if you use vodka or another commercially available alcohol, you need to account for the water content it has. For example, vodka is a popular choice for home tincture making as it is readily available and has little to no flavour of its own. It is only 40-50% alcohol, though, so it is not suitable for some herbal extracts, such as the resins that need a higher percent of the alcohol as a solvent.

The proportion of herb to solvent is always shown as a ratio of weight in volume for example, 200 grams of herb in 1,000 millilitres of fluid (alcohol plus water) is a 1:5 tincture, while 500 grams of herb in 1,000 millilitres of fluid is a 1:2 tincture.

In herbs monographs I will soon start placing on blog I will be using 1:5 ratio, as it is easiest and most popular tincture to make at home for self-healing.

To create tincture, you will need jar with tap, herb and fluid (alcohol, vinegar or glycerine).

Step1. Measure weight of herb

Step2. Cut, crush, grind, powder your herb, finer herb material will make better remedy.

Step3. Add to jar

Step3. Measure your liquid and add to jar.

Step4. Cover jar, shake well and place in dark cool place.

Step5. Shake well at least once a day.

Step6. Allow to step for at least 14 days, sometimes tinctures will require longer maceration, but in most cases in 14 days if shaken every day tincture will be ready

Step7. Strain, and if possible, express the remaining tincture with hand press or wine press or just cheesecloth and your hands.

Step8. Not necessary, but you may prefer not to have sediment (nothing wrong in most cases with sediment, just shake well before use), pour tincture over coffee filter.

Step9. Place in a bottle and put label on with name of herb, date of creation and ratio.

Step10. Always keep in dark cool place

Tincture has shelf life at least 3 years in most cases.

In most cases dosage of 1:5 tincture will be 5 ml, usually 3 times a day.

 

 

Oil infused herbs (spices works well to, mix or single)

Last preparation in this topic will be oil infused herbs.

Preparation is very similar to tincture usually it will be 1:5 ratio, 100grams of herb: 500ml of oil. There are few methods of preparation infused oil, I will pass here 2 most used.

In both cases finer herbal material better remedy made, it can be used single herb or herbal/spice blend. Always keep the 1:5 ratio if you want your oil to have properties of herbal remedy.

First is simple maceration, follow all steps used to create tincture but as fluid use oil of your preference (olive oil is most commonly used).

Second method is hot maceration. This will be perfect if you want use goose fat (or other animal fat which penetrate skin greatly and move remedy direct to tissues under skin, castor oil has this properties to), you can also use olive oil or any other oil. This method requires to use heat. Place herbal material with oil in enamelled or glass pan, stir well, place into oven and leave for 24-72 hours with temperature set for 65-70 degree Celsius, mixing at least few times during day, as herbal material will settle to the bottom. Strain, place in jar, place label on. Keep in fridge. If you used vegetable oil and your oil in fridge curdles, take it out of the fridge, and leave in room temperature for a few minutes, it will get back to normal consistency. Nothing wrong with that, its normal.

Infused oil can be used as part of daily food routine, ointments etc.

Shelf life vary depends from oil used from 6 month to 1 year, you can add preservative to increase shelf life.

ATTENTION: All material provided on this website is for informational or educational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of your healthcare professional or physician.