Just two weekends ago we packed a car full of houseplants and made the definitive fall move out of the summer cabin and back into our tiny city apartment. Before leaving, I plucked half a dozen fresh echinacea cones and decided to make a tincture, the third of the holy trinity of preservation methods in addition to syrups and oils.
A tincture is typically an herbal extract made with alcohol, though they also can be made with glycerin or vinegar. In general, non-alcoholic tinctures do not keep as long and can vary in effectiveness depending on what they are made from. So when making homemade tinctures, ethanol alcohol is an ideal solvent because it is both easy to obtain and works equally well to extract essences from acidic and basic (alkaline) raw materials alike.
The easiest way to make a tincture is to use a neutral grain spirit that is around 50% ABV. Mild flavored alcohols such as vodka, rum, or gin can also be used. The process is simple: fill a sterile jar with fresh medicinal herbs and cover with alcohol. Your jar should look approximately ¾ full if using flowers or leaves, ½ full if using roots. Note: dried herbs will double in size as they reconstitute in the alcohol, so take this into consideration if using them. Dried herbs are also less potent (with the exception of mushrooms) in general. Seal your jar and let it sit for at least one week and up to a month before straining and bottling if you are using flowers or leaves. If you are using roots, they prefer a longer steeping of up to a few months in a cool, dark place.
Echinacea tinctures are usually made from the plant's roots, but ours were too young to harvest this year. Luckily the flowers, cones, and leaves of the echinacea plant also have (lesser) healing properties—plus a shorter steeping time. I ended up using a base of gin as it was what we had around the house and after 10 days the color, smell, and taste was lovely.
From left to right: dill flower schnapps, fresh echinacea cone tincture, Romanian moonshine
I'll pick this up in a later post, but making schnapps is very similar to making tinctures. I suppose the biggest difference between them is that while tinctures are made as medicine, schnapps are intended to be drunk for pleasure. But in practice these lines can blur a bit, especially for those interested in living well.
Some final notes: if you are making tinctures as medicine, the Internet will be full of sources telling which herbs do what and how to process them. Nevertheless, remember that natural remedies can affect different people differently, not excluding adverse reactions. There are also no standard doses for things that are homemade, so take caution when consuming your creations. In addition to echinacea, valerian and camomile are popular tincture ingredients.
A tincture is typically an herbal extract made with alcohol, though they also can be made with glycerin or vinegar. In general, non-alcoholic tinctures do not keep as long and can vary in effectiveness depending on what they are made from. So when making homemade tinctures, ethanol alcohol is an ideal solvent because it is both easy to obtain and works equally well to extract essences from acidic and basic (alkaline) raw materials alike.
The easiest way to make a tincture is to use a neutral grain spirit that is around 50% ABV. Mild flavored alcohols such as vodka, rum, or gin can also be used. The process is simple: fill a sterile jar with fresh medicinal herbs and cover with alcohol. Your jar should look approximately ¾ full if using flowers or leaves, ½ full if using roots. Note: dried herbs will double in size as they reconstitute in the alcohol, so take this into consideration if using them. Dried herbs are also less potent (with the exception of mushrooms) in general. Seal your jar and let it sit for at least one week and up to a month before straining and bottling if you are using flowers or leaves. If you are using roots, they prefer a longer steeping of up to a few months in a cool, dark place.
Echinacea tinctures are usually made from the plant's roots, but ours were too young to harvest this year. Luckily the flowers, cones, and leaves of the echinacea plant also have (lesser) healing properties—plus a shorter steeping time. I ended up using a base of gin as it was what we had around the house and after 10 days the color, smell, and taste was lovely.
From left to right: dill flower schnapps, fresh echinacea cone tincture, Romanian moonshine
I'll pick this up in a later post, but making schnapps is very similar to making tinctures. I suppose the biggest difference between them is that while tinctures are made as medicine, schnapps are intended to be drunk for pleasure. But in practice these lines can blur a bit, especially for those interested in living well.
Some final notes: if you are making tinctures as medicine, the Internet will be full of sources telling which herbs do what and how to process them. Nevertheless, remember that natural remedies can affect different people differently, not excluding adverse reactions. There are also no standard doses for things that are homemade, so take caution when consuming your creations. In addition to echinacea, valerian and camomile are popular tincture ingredients.
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