Herbal Medicine Making: Tinctures, the Folk Method
by Atava Garcia Swiecicki, Herbalist and Medicine Maker in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Fresh scullcap, ready to tincture
There are many ways to prepare and preserve herbs for daily use. One way is to make an extraction in alcohol, or a tincture. Alcohol extracts and concentrates many of the plant constituents and is also a great preservative.
The folk method for making tinctures is simple. Just buy some of your favorite hard alcohol (about 80 proof) like vodka, brandy or tequilla. Put your herbs in a glass mason jar and leave some room on the top. Cover the herbs with enough alcohol so that there is about 1 inch above the herb.
Now, place your herbs in a cool dark place and let them sit for one month. It is nice to give your herbs a shake every now and then to keep things well mixed.
The alcohol-herb mixture is called an herbal maceration. In one month, you can strain out the liquid by using cheese cloth or muslin. Now you can store the liquid tincture in the right sized amber glass jar.
The leftover herbs from the tincture making process is called the marc. I like to give my marc to my garden or guardian tree in the yard.
Tags: herbal medicine making, Herbs, tinctures
