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| vinegar tinctures last a year or more when stored away from heat and light and even longer if refrigerated, and they can be used in salad dressings and other foods. Vegetable glycerine tinctures last longer and alcohol tinctures keep indefinitely. |
| Whatever liquid you use, cover the jar tightly, leave it in a warm place and shake it daily for at least two weeks, adding more alcohol, glycerine or vinegar as dry herbs absorb the liquid. The longer it steeps, the stronger the tincture. Strain and pour into storage bottles, an activity that many herbalists conduct at the full moon. For a double-strength tincture, let the tincture stand for one month, then pour the strained liquid over new herbs and repeat the process. |
| There is much confusion about tincture dosage, a misunderstanding that herbalist Rosemary Gladstar attributes to the caution of small companies marketing tinctures in the 1960s. ''The only similar products were homeopathic preparations,'' she explains, "and their doses are measured in drops. Herbal tinctures are entirely different, and they should be taken by the half-teaspoon, teaspoon or tablespoon, not by the drop." Anyone buying, making or taking herbal tinctures should know that disappointing results may not be caused by a tincture's herbal ingredients but rather by doses that are entirely too small. Tinctures can be taken straight or diluted in tea, water or fruit juice. Some tinctures, such as arnica and nettle, have important external applications; they are used as liniments. While liniments can be made with isopropyl |
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