Herbal Preparations

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Herbal Preparations

http://www.herbcraft.org/preparations.html

Teas (for fresh or dried herbs)

Steep an arbitrary amount of an herb in an arbitrary amount of hot (not quite boiling) water for an arbitrary length of time. Strain & drink.

 

“Nourishing” Infusions

These preparations should be made from nutrient rich "food herbs" such as Oatstraw, Nettles, Red Clover, and the like, and probably not when using plants with a more overtly "medicinal" action.

 

Pour water just off the boil over dried herbs in a mason jar in the following proportions:

 

Roots & Barks

1 ounce of dried herb to a pint of water; steeped for 8 hours.

Leaves

1 ounce of dried herb to a quart of water; steeped from 4 to 10 hours.

Flowers

1 ounce of dried herb to a quart of water; steeped 20 minutes to 2 hours.

Seeds & Berries

1 ounce of dried herb to a pint of water; steeped for 30 minutes.

(If using fresh herbs, use 2 ounces)

 

Cap the jar while steeping and be careful! The jars will get hot. Nourishing Infusions can be made before bed and consumed throughout the next day, rather than making them in the morning and having to wait up to 10 hours to drink some. Discard any leftovers after one day.

 

Decoctions (for dried or fresh roots, barks, berries or seeds)

For a more concentrated preparation, add 1 ounce of herbs to a quart of water. Slowly bring to a boil, and reduce volume by about half. Strain, cool & drink. Not a good choice for aromatic roots and barks (like sassafras or wild cherry)

 

Cold Infusions

Some herbs are impaired or otherwise rendered inferior by heat, and should be prepared as a cold infusion: suspend the herb via a strainer or piece of muslin in cool to cold water, and allow to soak for several hours (proportions really do depend on the herb). Wild Cherry bark needs to be prepared by cold infusion.

 

Steam Inhalations

Steam inhalations are great for breaking up sinus or lung congestion. Simply fill a pot with water and, say, Sage, cover and bring to a boil. Remove the pot from heat, and lean over it with a towel over your head to catch the steam. Inhale slowly & fully, and be careful! The steam will, of course, be hot.

 

Infused Oils

Solar Infusions: Pack a mason jar as tightly as possible with a fresh herb of your choice (St. John's Wort, for instance). Pour Olive Oil into the jar and then press the herbs with a clean spoon or something to squeeze out as much of the trapped air as possible. Repeat until you can't get any more air bubbles out, then cap the jar and set it directly in the sun for a month or two. Then strain the oil through cotton or cheesecloth, squeezing as much from the wet herb as possible. Let the strained oil sit for two or three days. Any water in your oil will settle to the bottom. Slowly pour the oil into a clean jar being careful not let any of the settled water come along with it. Cap and store in a cool, dark place.

 

"Kitchen" Infusions: Combine dried or fresh herbs and Olive Oil in a crock-pot or double boiler. Herbalist James Green recommends using a yogurt maker, which heats the oils to a lower temperature than your average crockpot. Sometimes I use a ratio of seven ounces oil to every once of dried or two ounces of fresh herb, but I will also often just eyeball it. Heat over the lowest heat possible for several hours - the longer the better (sometimes I've steeped for days). Strain into clean mason jars, and if using fresh herbs, separate the oil from any water as described above.

 

You can add some Vitamin E Oil to act as a preservative.

 

Salves

Infuse salve ingredients in oil as described above. Heat the oil, and to every ounce of oil add 1-2 teaspoons of grated beeswax (or, if you've got chunks of beeswax, figure about an ounce of wax for every five ounces of oil). You can drop some of the molten salve onto a piece of wax paper and let it harden to check the consistency. If too soft, add more beeswax; if too hard, add more oil. When you're happy with the consistency, pour into clean jars. Four once mason jars are ideal, as are old lip balm containers. A touch of lanolin in the mix can do wonders.

 

Liniments

In a mason jar, pour rubbing alcohol over the desired herbs. For Dry herbs, 5 ounces of alcohol per ounce; for fresh herbs, 2 ounces of alcohol per once. Let sit for two weeks, shaking daily, then strain into clean bottles. Because liniments use rubbing alcohol, make sure they are labeled "FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY!" Rubbing alcohol can be fatal if taken internally.

 

Poultices

This is an external application of bruised fresh or brewed dried herbs. For example, bruise a handful of fresh plantain leaves (or chew them to make a "spit poultice" for greater bio-activity) and apply to a wound to facilitate cleaning and faster healing. For a dried poultice, steep some dried chamomile and apply to raw, enflamed skin. Tea bags make very good poultices. Cover and let it soak in for ½ to a few hours, or overnight.

 

Tinctures

People are so intimidated by making tinctures. It figures, as almost every book describes this process differently, and for those of us who want to understand the process, it is good to know why we are doing what we are doing. On the most basic level, a tincture is made from a fresh or dried herb that has been soaked in an alcohol/water solution (called a "menstrum").

 

Because there are so many assumptions made about alcohol, and the mere mention of consuming it can cause the most liberal of people to get the "heebie-jeebies", let me take a moment to explain why it is used and why it is, in almost all cases, not a need for concern:

 

Plant constituents are extracted into an herbal preparation because they are soluble (they will dissolve into) in the menstrum used by that preparation. If you make an infusion of Black Cohosh, for example, only the constituents of the Black Cohosh that are soluble in water will be included in the infusion. There remains; in the left over plant material, other constituents that contribute to its total overall effect. If you were to prepare an alcoholic extract, using a menstrum of water and alcohol, you would extract a more complete spectrum of the plant's overall medicinal virtues. Also, the alcohol acts as a preservative, and the extract will keep for years . . . almost indefinitely, really. Although nonalcoholic extracts can be made using apple cider vinegar and glycerin; these do not extract as well or keep as well as alcoholic extracts, and many herbs are only extracted well using alcohol.

 

For those concerned about the alcohol intake involved in the use of tinctures, I offer the following information: A full dropper bottle of tincture is usually one ounce, and an average of 50% alcohol… the equivalent of 1 "shot of" 100 proof vodka. Of this, a usual dose of tincture is approximately 30 drops, so imagine that shat glass filled with just 30 drops of vodka, only half of which is alcohol. This is approximately the same amount of alcohol contained in 1-2 ripe bananas (Yes, bananas do contain alcohol!). This is a relatively insignificant amount of alcohol… and tinctures are so benevolent they can be given during pregnancy with no ill effect (providing, of course, that the herb used is safe for pregnancy). Of course, this is your decision to make. No one can account for all sensitivities or allergic reactions a given person may have. Contrary to herban legend, adding a tincture to hot water or tea while it is infusing or decocting does not remove the alcohol