For those of you who have been patiently waiting to learnhow I made a Holy Basil/Tulsi Tincture, todayis the day that you have been waiting for! Over the weekend, I completedthe process for making an alcohol-based Holy Basil tincture.If youhaven’t yet read my post about Holy Basil, feel free to check it out to learnmore about this awesome super herb and its benefits.
Alcohol-based tinctures are very easy to make and they provideyou with an extracted form of an herb that is convenient to carry. They can also be easily taken inwater. My experiences thus far haveprimarily been limited to alcohol-based tincture making using fresh herbs thatI have grown in my own garden, so that is the process that I am emphasizinghere. For those who wish to avoidalcohol, you can also make glycerin-based tinctures, andeven vinegar-based tinctures, but I have yet to try those methods myself.
The tincture making process is pretty simple:
1.) Chop up your fresh herbs and put them into a clean and dry glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.Mason jars work well for this, but you could certainly use any cleanglass jar with a tight-fitting lid.
2.) Pour enough 80 to 100 proof alcohol (such as vodka, gin,brandy, or grain or grape alcohol) to cover the herbs by two to threeinches.
3.) Cover thejar with a lid and store in a warm place for approximately 4-6 weeks. Shake daily to help infuse the herbsinto the alcohol.
4.) After 4-6weeks, strain off the spent herbs from the finished tincture anddiscard/compost the plants.
5.) Bottle yourtincture as needed into a labeled dropper bottle.
The best scenario is to store your tinctures in a cool darkplace, since ambient light can break down those super important medicinalcompounds in the herbs that you want in the first place. My personal solution for this is tostore my tinctures in a cupboard, and I make my own homemade “label sleeves” madefrom cut paper bags that I wrap around the jars and fasten with tape to helpreduce the amount of light that they are exposed to.
According to Rosemary Gladstar, alcohol-based tincturesshould stay good for many years, glycerin tinctures should stay good for about 2-3years, and vinegar-based tinctures will keep for at least a year, and sometimesthey will last even longer.
Dosages of tinctures are given in terms of drops ordropperfuls. While I cannotrecommend specific dosages for specific herbal tinctures, I can give you aquick list of dropper dosage equivalents:
1 Dropperful (35 drops) = ¼ teaspoon = 1 mL
2 ½ Dropperfuls (88 drops) = ½ teaspoon = 2.5 mL
5 Dropperfuls (175 drops) = 1 teaspoon = 5 mL
One of the trickiest parts to tincture making that I haveencountered is how to keep from spilling them (and losing some of your work)when you are pouring the liquid tincture from one container to another. I have to admit that I havenot yet figured out a foolproof method for doing this, but using funnels suredoes help a lot. I use two different sized funnels thatI have at home: one that has a very skinny end to allow for the tincture to bepoured directly into the dropper bottle, and a larger one with a wide end thatcame with my canning kit that helps me to pour tinctures from one jar toanother. I also place a clean bowlunderneath the dropper bottle as I am pouring tincture into it to hopefully catchspills. This is not always 100%effective, however, and is more of an art form than anything else.
My recommendation is to use organic alcohol for making yourtinctures, if you can find it. Itcertainly doesn’t have to be a top of the line brand (unless you want to spendthat kind of money), but you are making herbal remedies here, and I presumethat one of your health and wellness goals is to reduce your exposure tochemicals. I also prefer to useorganic alcohol for these purposes due to the use of GMO crops in manyconventional products.
I purchased my dropper bottles from Mountain Rose Herbs, butI’m sure that you could buy them elsewhere as well, including some natural foodstores.
You might also explore making your own herbal tincture formulasusing several different complementary herbs. As I always recommend,please do your own research to determine which herbs work well together and which ones are right for your personal use. Also, please consult with a healthpractitioner about which herbs may or may not be right for you if you have anyparticular health concerns, are taking any medications, or are pregnant ornursing.
Below is an outline of theprocess by which I made my tinctures.Notice that I made several this weekend: a Holy Basil tincture, alemongrass tincture, and a Jiaogulan tincture (also known as Gynostemma), anadaptogenic super herb that I am growing in a pot.
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Holy Basil/Tulsi and Lemongrass harvested from the garden,along with my herb clippers. |
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Chopping up the Holy Basil. |
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| The Holy Basil in its new mason jar “home” for the next six weeks andthe organic vodka that I used to make the tinctures. |
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| Filling the jar with enough vodka to cover the herbs. Some leaves did float, but they settleddown some after a couple of days. |
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| Cutting up the lemongrass with kitchen shears. I found that my herb clippers weren’t working too well onthese thick and course blades of grass, so I took out the heavy artillery andswitched to cutting the lemongrass with my kitchen shears. |
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Ready to infuse for six weeks… |
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| My Jiaogulan (Gynostemma) plant that I have growing in a pot. I am uncertain as to whether this plant fromAsia would become invasive in my garden, so I keep it in a pot. |
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| Cutting up the Jiaogulan for the tincturing process. |
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| Everything that I need to complete my tincture making process after thethree tinctures have been sitting for about six weeks (except for the largercanning funnel). Note that thethird jar label should read “Jiaogulan” instead of “Jiaojuglan.” |
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| The Holy Basil tincture with the spent herbs. |
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| Ready to pour the Holy Basil tincture into the jar and strain the spentplant material with a fine mesh stainless steel strainer. |
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| Pressing as much liquid out of the spent herbs as possible. As you can see here, some spilling didoccur when I poured the tincture into the jar, so it can take a little care andeffort to keep from spilling some of your tincture. Still learning best practice techniques… |
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| Pouring the finished tincture back into its original jar after removingall plant materials. |
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| Ready to pour the tincture into the dropper bottle… |
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| The finished Holy Basil tincture. |
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| All finished!!! |
This post is shared at Healthy, Happy, Green & Natural Party Hop
