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Page 29
| and place it in a warm location. Check it every day or two, shaking it or briefly turning the jar upside down. As dried herbs absorb the liquid, add more alcohol. Let the tincture stand for three or four weeks before filtering. Some herbalists recommend straining and bottling tinctures at the full moon. There is no specific deadline; a tincture left for two months will be more potent than one left for two weeks. Strain the tincture through cheesecloth or muslin, pressing out as much liquid as possible before discarding the spent plant material. Alcohol tinctures have an indefinite shelf life. Stores in amber glass jars away from heat and light, they last for decades. |
| Example: To make a powerful, gentle tonic for the heart, use fresh or dried hawthorn berries and/or hawthorn leaves and blossoms, cover them with brandy or vodka and proceed as above. |
| For a more concentrated tincture, pour your filtered tincture into a jar containing new plant material and repeat the process. Small quantities of this ''double strength" tincture will have a powerful medicinal effect, and you can use half the recommended dosage for the same results. |
| 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 be caused not by a tincture's herbal ingredients but |
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