Herbal Tincture Making

Herbal tincture making can be accomplished at home using a handful of simple ingredients. Learn the basics and keep your supply of herbal tinctures well-stocked.

Learn how to make simple tinctures

Herbal tinctures condense the active healing oils from medicinal herbs into a solvent base. You can purchase herbal tinctures or make your own at home.

Before starting an herbal tincture making project, choose the herbs you'd like to make into a tincture. If you have herbs growing in the garden, you can easily snip enough fresh herbs to create the right amount of tincture. If not, you'll need to purchase them from the grocery store. The cost of buying herbs and the equipment to make herbal tincture may outweigh the benefits of making herbal tincture at home.

Herbs that are fairly easy to grow and make into herbal tinctures include:

1. Peppermint: One of the most useful and prolific medicinal herbs, peppermint is used for everything from soothing an upset stomach to treating colds and headaches. Grow and store peppermint leaves for herbal tisanes or brew a peppermint herbal tincture.
2. Ginger: Like peppermint, ginger is useful for many common ailments, particularly nausea and upset stomachs.
3. Catnip: It's not just for Fluffy! Catnip is also another remedy for stomach ailments, colds and more.

Many more herbs may be made into herbal tinctures, but the above three are easy to find or grow and prolific enough that even if you make mistakes with your first batch of tincture, you can try again. Most culinary herbs are safe to use and have few side effects.

Before starting your tincture-making project, gather together all the equipment you'll need in addition to the herbs. Equipment includes:

• Solvent base: Tinctures condense the oils in the herbs and infuse them into a solvent base. Generally speaking, solvent bases are made with drinking-quality alcohol. Brandy and 80 to 100 proof vodka are the bases of choice. If you would prefer an alcohol-free tincture, use distilled or pure white vinegar.

• Cheesecloth: You will also need cheesecloth. This special cloth is woven with holes that allow liquid to penetrate but keep solids in. It was once used to strain the whey or liquid away from the curds during the cheese making process, which is how it got its name. Today you can find it in the kitchen implement aisle in most stores. Many people use cheesecloth to tie up bundles of herbs when cooking, especially when making pickles or other preserved foods, so you can often find it in the canning or food preservation equipment aisle of mass merchandisers.

• Glass jars: Always use glass jars. Mason jars work well. Metal or plastic may react with the tincture or base and contaminate the batch. You can find Mason jars in most stores, or clean and wash glass jelly or other jars and reuse.

• Labels: Peel and stick labels and water proof permanent markets enable you to label each batch with the name and date for easy identification.

It's fairly easy to make tincture. Follow these steps:

• Start with a clean, fresh batch of organic herbs. Wash the herbs under cool running water and shake or pat the water off. Remove the leaves from the stems and discard the stems. You will need approximately 10 ounces of fresh herbs for every quart of liquid.

• Place 10 ounces of fresh herbs in a glass jar and pour just enough brandy or vodka over the herbs so that they are covered. Close the lid tightly and store in a cool, dark place.

• Check the tincture daily. Make sure that the liquid continues to cover the herbs. If the level drops below the leaves in the jar, add more until they're covered again.

• Shake the jar daily.

The tincture is ready to use in two weeks, or you may allow it to steep for up to three months. The longer the herbs sit in the solvent base, the stronger the tincture. When you're ready to use the tincture, take the cheesecloth and spread it over the mouth of another clean jar. This is the jar you are going to use for long-term storage. Be sure it has a tight-fitting lid. Pour the tincture and herbs over the cheesecloth so that the bits of herbs get stuck in the cloth but the liquid runs through and into the capture jar. Close, label and date the jar. The liquid inside is your herbal tincture.

Make your own tincture.

Herbal tincture making is only one fun thing to do with medicinal herbs. You can grow herbs, dry them, and make your own herbal teas and tisanes. The following resources can lead to more fun projects that use herbs.

• Making Herbal Tinctures provides additional instructions to make herbal tinctures.
• How to Dry Herbs instructs newcomers in easy methods of drying herbs.
• Cooking with Herbs includes ideas on cooking with herbs.
• Recipes for Your Own Herbal Teas helps you make your own herbal teas and tisanes.
• Herb Garden provides over a dozen articles to help you grow herbs.

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