Im Tincturing My Butt Off...........

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pine needle tea

from what ive read we cna use pine needles from these trees---

white pine
noble fir
douglas fir
pinon

but avoid these
ponderosa
lodgepole pine
juniper
norfolk
monterrey

take them from the newer ends, wash and dry. then cut brown end pieces off, cut or chop, put in jar, cover with vodka and steep 30 days
 
My in laws drink honey & vinegar water every morning for 80 some odd years.
I have been liking into fire cider & am wondering if vinegar may be cheaper, easier to make & better for my health then alcohol.
I want your honest opinion, is it better for some things, but not as good for other or is it lift up to a choice of an individual?
Dose one keep better than the other?
 
i just put the dry herb mix in jar and cover with the vodka. nice and simple

How much of the dry herb mix do you put in the jar?

I have always made the tea with it and drank it twice a day for preventative. I believe it is used for much more than cancer. I used it myself on two of my cats and it saved their lives.

Now that I live in a smaller place and alone not sure making a gallon of it at a time will stay good even if I drank it more than twice a day. I love the smell of the tea though, especially while I am brewing it.
 
My in laws drink honey & vinegar water every morning for 80 some odd years.
I have been liking into fire cider & am wondering if vinegar may be cheaper, easier to make & better for my health then alcohol.
I want your honest opinion, is it better for some things, but not as good for other or is it lift up to a choice of an individual?
Dose one keep better than the other?


I am looking forward to others chiming in with their answers, but until then, here are my areas of expertise and experience with vinegar tincturing:

Vinegar tinctures do work but are not especially noted for long, long-term storage. Alcohol tinctures work best for that purpose. I try to use up my vinegar tinctures within a year but some herbalists, such as Rosemary Gladstar, have found the tinctures can last for much longer than a year.

This bit is taken from my personal notes:

Gladstar states that most of the herbal literature warns that vinegar tinctures have a shelf life of only six to eight months, but she has found that vinegar tinctures stored in a cool, dark place can last for many years. For best results, use undiluted vinegar containing five to seven percent acetic acid. Adding water to a vinegar tincture in any proportion or using fresh herbs that are too moist will cause fermentation and spoilage; so be sure to let succulent fresh herbs wilt and partially dry before using them in a vinegar tincture.


I think it is a good idea to look into making and using vinegar tinctures now because alcohol may someday be in short supply (as in the midst of disasters and other interruptions of supply). This is precisely why I am interested in gaining more experience with vinegar tinctures so that I can better gauge the properties of vinegar tinctures and at what dosage, as compared to alcohol tinctures or water-based teas and decoctions.

Vinegar is very easy to make from scratch and there are lots of tutorials on the internet.

Also, don't underestimate DRYING herbs. As a rule, they store better than vinegar tinctures. Depending upon the herb, dried plant matter can remain potent for many months up to a few years.

Keep in mind that some properties of some herbs are best extracted with water, others are best extracted with alcohol, and some with oils.

But that is a whole 'nother topic. :)
 
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Grizzleyette___Adams thanks for you quick reply.
It sound right that alcohol would last many times as long as vinegar. I worked that an gardener who learned to pickle from his mother. Five years after her pasting he found a jar of her pickle in the back shelf of the pantry, so it was at least five years old & he said it was still good. In the dark dry place. As you say vinegar is easy to make with dry or fresh fruit, so you could use it for day to day & use alcohol for long term storage. I saw a video that talked about water or tea, vinegar or alcohol, oils & beeswax.
I have been told to never store fresh Garlic in oil for more than a week & always in the refrigerator.
 
How much of the dry herb mix do you put in the jar?

It sounds like you need some good reference materials. I and others put some great books here...

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/herbal-medicine-books-peanut-recommends.6745/
One book in particular would help you with tinctures. It takes you through all the basics, different types, ratios, weights...

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/herbal-medicine-books-peanut-recommends.6745/#post-260900
For instance, using dry herbs for a tincture is different than fresh herbs.

Your asking "how much dry herb" or "dosage" is like asking "How to make soap". There are dozens of correct answers and no "one size fits all" answer. A plants individual properties dictate which method or methods you can use. No one can remember it all so... buy a couple of good books.

Example... plant "X" has lots of medicinal properties, some of its chemicals are soluble in water, others are soluble in alcohol. So, this very same plant can be used to treat condition "Y" as a tea, and used to treat contrition "Z" as a tincture. So, what you are trying to treat determines which is best, tincture or tea... Again, its like asking "what's the best way to make soap"? The answer depends on whether you are trying to wash a baby's bottom or transmission fluid out of your clothes. There is no "one size fits all" answer.

Grizzleyette___Adams thanks for you quick reply.
It sound right that alcohol would last many times as long as vinegar.

Vinegar... there is one plant that comes to mind... Lobelia. It's not stable in an alcohol tincture. It needs glycerin or vingar to give it 2-2.5 yrs of shelf life. The plant dictates whether to use alcohol or vinegar or a combination of both.

Again, there is no "one size fits all" answer for any plant. A couple of good reference books on a shelf will guide you through making medicine from 100's of plants.
 
Drying... A foodsaver with a jar sealing capability comes in very handy. You can dry herbs then vacuum seal them in a jar which gives the plant an extra year of viability. I dry and seal up some plants just to have on-hand. If I don't use them then a couple years later I'll dump them out, harvest, dry and vacuum seal some more. Sometimes it's best to keep a plant to two forms, dried and as a tincture so the same plant can be used to treat different conditions. This does not apply to all plants!!! Its species dependent.
 
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Drying (most) herbs:

I like to make sure that my temps do not exceed 118*F, to preserve enzymes and maximum potency.

Sometimes I use a food dehydrator. But often I will hang the herbs upside down, tied in small bunches, in a warm and well-ventilated area out of direct sunlight until crispy-dry.
 
I agree with Peanut's recommendation to get this book (in one of his other links):

The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook: Home Manual… by James Green

This is textbook-worthy and should be required reading if you delve into herbal medicine.
 
I was just asking about the Essiac herb mix out of curiosity. I use the dry mix for tea. I sold all my herbal books when I moved and won't be doing much more than I already do now.

When I lived in the forest I had many different wild plants that I used for medicinal as well as for our food. Just was interested to see you all talking about them.
 
How much of the dry herb mix do you put in the jar?

I have always made the tea with it and drank it twice a day for preventative. I believe it is used for much more than cancer. I used it myself on two of my cats and it saved their lives.

Now that I live in a smaller place and alone not sure making a gallon of it at a time will stay good even if I drank it more than twice a day. I love the smell of the tea though, especially while I am brewing it.


i have some gallon or half gallon glass jars that i use for tincturing, i usually fill my jars---any size really, it depends on the size of the batch you want to make. i fiill a jar about 3./4 of the way full of dry herb, fill with alcohol to about 1 inch above the herb level.

over seens some folk use ACV for a tincture too, some use glycerine, but to be shelf stable for long term, i feel better using alcohol . ive not experimented yet with using ACV. but i knoe some prefer it to avoid the alcohol.
 
I started processing tinctures tonight, some should have been done months ago. I think I counted 22 quarts, there are some pints on the bottom shelf I didn't get out.

I have a metal funnel that's used for filtering cooking oil. I line the funnel with #9 cheese cloth and hold it in place with binder clips. I pour in a quart, plant material etc and let it drain. Then I put on exam gloves and pack the plant material in my fists and squeeze to get out the last liquid. I toss the plant material in the trash then measure out quarts in labeled jars, I also use pints and half-pints.

Tinctures 01 04sep.JPG
 
ACV- Apple Cider Vinegar?
I would think it would be better to make your vinegar with the herb, then add the same herb for Tincture.
You tell me why I am wrong, I have not use this system.
 
ACV? There is no vinegar in the photo. What are you talking about?

These are simple volume tinctures, you can't get any more basic. There is no apple cider vinegar used. System? No system, I'm simply straining plant material out of tinctures.

You strain out plant material from tinctures previously made by running them through cheese cloth. You catch and save the liquid in a bowl. Then put the liquid in clean jars and label it. I'm not making anything in the photo. I'm simply finishing the last step of the process for volume tinctures.
 
i have some gallon or half gallon glass jars that i use for tincturing, i usually fill my jars---any size really, it depends on the size of the batch you want to make. I fill a jar about 3./4 of the way full of dry herb, fill with alcohol to about 1 inch above the herb level.
over seems some folk use ACV for a tincture too, some use glycerine, but to be shelf stable for long term, i feel better using alcohol . I've not experimented yet with using ACV. but i know some prefer it to avoid the alcohol.
Sorry Peanut, I am talking about jazzy post.
I googled ACV & got apple cider vinegar. Not your post, I have no questions about your post, it was easy to follow.
 
Finished! 2.5 gallons of tincture (2q are not in the photo). I screwed up! I thought I had one more quart of elder bloom and 1 more of poke. I can harvest poke any month of the year but my elderberry has already bloomed. It'll be next year before I can put up more. I'm thinking I need another quart of yarrow also.

My goal has been to be ready to treat 12-15 people for major injury or illnesses on a continual basis when there is no doctor or meds. I have collected, process and stored the best the plant world has to offer for any kind of viral or bacterial infection, even covid.

Another goal was to learn the location of every medicinal plant in a 200sq mile area. In the early years I'd print out maps, don't need them anymore. Over 1200 species of medicinal plants grow where I live. They are pretty much everywhere. Still, rare and uncommon plants are in my mental map, I know where to find them. The most difficult and time consuming part is learning where to find plant X in a drought or plant Y after a flood or root Z when snow is on the ground. It's taken me 15 years to get here. Years of crawling through brush, swamps and fields to learn plants.

The single biggest thing that made my education and preps possible... I have free access to hunt plants on over 30K acres, that took some doing. But over time I met the right people and just talked to them. Most people think plant medicine is interesting and are happy to oblige. But there are always some who enjoy making things difficult for others.

I'm at the point where there isn't a lot more I can do in this area. Oh, I'll keep studying plants because I enjoy them. There are a lot of plants for treating everyday maladies I can now concentrate on so my work isn't done...

I wanted to post this to mark a milestone of sorts.

Tinctures 08sep21 1 a.JPG
 
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Didn’t start that way lol. 2 years after buying my first plant book I could name 5 and wasn’t to sure about a couple of those. It’s like anything else, usually comes down to how much you want something. I had a very personal reason to pursue this field.

For me books alone weren't enough. I sought out folks who had knowledge to share. Social media was a big help, but I learned best in person...
 
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My in laws drink honey & vinegar water every morning for 80 some odd years.
I have been liking into fire cider & am wondering if vinegar may be cheaper, easier to make & better for my health then alcohol.
I want your honest opinion, is it better for some things, but not as good for other or is it lift up to a choice of an individual?
Dose one keep better than the other?

to the best of my knowledge, you can make a fine tincture using vinegar insterad of alcoho if i understand right, it is the shelf life that is the basic difference. made with alcohol, kept away from heat and light, tincture will last 20yrs or so. ive not researched tincures made with vinegar.
i know some people who make ti9ncurtes with g;ycerin----because they dont want the alcohol, thats used uisually for kids. ive not made any recipes using glycerin..l

joel---ive made my own qapple cider vinegar before, it was AMAZING. way better tasting than store bought, real apple flavor, i loved it. just yseds peels and apple cores---if i can find the instrucitons ill post but its easy to find on the net.
probably a good recipe for when shtf---make your own vinegar. could be important.
 
How much of the dry herb mix do you put in the jar?

I have always made the tea with it and drank it twice a day for preventative. I believe it is used for much more than cancer. I used it myself on two of my cats and it saved their lives.

Now that I live in a smaller place and alone not sure making a gallon of it at a time will stay good even if I drank it more than twice a day. I love the smell of the tea though, especially while I am brewing it.


ithis is how i learned to make a tincture

i take sterile glass jar--any size---i fill the jar about 3/4 full. then i cover with vodka--at least 80% and fill so that the liquid is about 1 inch abover the top of the herb.

i check this now and then as some herbs absorb more than others, and i always top off if needed to keep the liquid level to 1 inch above the herb level.

some people steep for 2 or 4 weeks--i do the 4 weeks, just me.

i agree with you on the tea, it very valuable on many levels. to ma, making the tincutrre is just for shelf life and ease of access. some years back i read some research on potency of dried herbs and tinctureing seemed to be the best bet.
 
I was taught to strain out the whole jar in one go. I dump the whole jar into my cheese cloth lined funnel. I let it drain for a bit then start squeezing and twisting the cheese cloth to get the last bit of liquid out. I toss the plant material and used cloth in the trash. It's done!

Sometimes there are sediments in the liquid, that's some good stuff! For tinctures with sediments... I shake the jar up good so it's mixed thoroughly. Then I pour as much as I need to fill a tincture bottle.

I also shake up tincture bottles that have sediments before using them.
 
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Someone above mentioned rose tincture. I make rose water for in my hand lotion. I use pine or cedar needle/fronds infused in oil for my soaps, have tinctured a little but need to figure out what I'm doing better. I keep several herbs dried & sealed so I can make a quick tea (ex. mullein) but would probably be better to have tinctures on hand. My issue is space to put them. I need a larger pantry and a room to be an apothecary all its own. @jazzy as far as the pines - I chew on ponderosa any chance I get, but lodgepole smells like cat pee so you really don't want that one.
 
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