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Page 76
| container for two weeks, shaking it daily. After two weeks, strain and press or wring the residue as with alcoholic tinctures. For fresh herbs, due to their greater water content, put 8 oz. into a mixture of 75 percent glycerin/25 percent water. |
| Dry Preparations |
| Sometimes it is more appropriate to take herbs in a dry form, such as in capsules or tablets. There may be an advantage to this as the taste of the herb can be avoided, and the whole herb may be taken, including the woody material. There are, however, a number of drawbacks. |
| Because dry herbs are unprocessed, the plant constituents might not be readily available for easy absorption. During infusion, heat and water help to break down the walls of the plant cells and dissolve the constituents, a process that is not always guaranteed during the digestion process in the stomach and small intestine. When the constituents are already dissolved in liquid form, they are available a lot faster and begin their action sooner. |
| Taking all this into account, there are still a number of ways to use herbs in dry form. The main thing is to ensure that the herbs are powdered as finely as possible. This guarantees that the cell walls are largely broken down and aids digestion and absorption of the herb. Techniques used to grind the herb fine enough will also cause much heat generation through friction, which may lead to a change in chemistry. This change is usually an inappropriate one. |
| Capsules |
| The easiest way to take dry powdered herbs internally is to use gelatin capsules. Capsules not made of animal |
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