Herbal Preparations: Tinctures

Tinctures are infusions made with alcohol. In the perfect world, they're made with refluxing or percolating devices that are designed to collect alcohol vapors, but these systems are expensive and you absolutely should not make your own. Professionally manufactured equipment is absolutely required if you're going to make traditional tinctures. Alcohol fumes are explosive, so using anything but the proper equipment is a recipe for disaster. Luckily, there are other ways to create tinctures. These methods can produce a finished product that is almost as good, and they're not going to explode and hurt or even kill someone.

You might be asking why you should use tinctures if they're so difficult and even dangerous to produce. There are a couple reasons you might want to use tinctures, the first being that alcohol extracts plant material that is difficult to extract otherwise. Water works and extracts a lot, but alcohol is an entirely different substance. It just does different things, extracts other properties.

The second reason is actually even more important. Alcohol is a preservative. Herbs left in alcohol will not go rancid nearly as quickly as herbs in water. Even oil isn't as good a preservative as alcohol. So you can make tinctures weeks or even months in advance and still be able to use it when you need it. The downside is alcohol evaporates so much faster, so you absolutely must keep tinctures in a sealed container at all times. Don't leave the lid off or you'll have no tincture left in no time.

To make tinctures, you can't just use any alcohol, so don't run off and buy rubbing alcohol. It doesn't work for making tinctures. Rubbing alcohol is isopropyl, which is poisonous. You can literally kill yourself if you drink it. Even if you're making a tincture for external use, it will just stink. Do don't use isopropyl products, including rubbing alcohol.

You want ethanol for making tinctures. Ethanol is a grain alcohol that can actually be consumed. In fact, we do consume grain alcohols all the time when we partake of certain spirits. So you'll want grain alcohol (ethanol) for your tinctures. Probably the best product for making tinctures is Everclear, which is 190 proof (95% alcohol). It is perfect for tinctures, but it's also restricted in some areas so it might be difficult to find and obtain. If you can't get it, look for a 140 proof (70% alcohol) vodka. Stronger is better, but this will do. You can even use Bacardi 151 or another comparable vodka, but it will end up smelling like vodka in the end. The stronger alcohol will result in a finished product that doesn't smell quite so strongly of...well, alcohol.

A simple tincture doesn't make as much work as you might think. Start by grinding your herbs into a powder. They need to be as pulverized as possible. If you're not great at this step, consider purchasing your herbs already ground up to make the entire process a little easier. Measure out the plant material, then place in a container that seals completely. You don't want evaporation happening when you're not around, so there should be no vents in the container.

Add alcohol, but measure carefully. A proper tincture will have twice the amount of alcohol as plant material. If you added 1 cup of powdered plant material, you should add 2 cups of alcohol. You probably aren't making that much tincture at a time, but you get the idea. Put the lid on the container and shake hard, but only for a few seconds. It's alcohol, fumes are building up as you shake it. Shake for less than 10 seconds.

Take the lid off the container and let the tincture rest for about 10 minutes. This allows the gases that built up when you shook the mixture to be released. It's not always a necessary step, but it is a safe one. So let the mixture rest. Put the lid on securely.

Repeat this process three times a day for at least 2 weeks. 3 weeks is better. When you've done this, strain the tincture through several layers of cheesecloth to remove the plant material. Discard the cheesecloth. To test your tincture, place 2 drops on the inside of your wrist and wait for the alcohol to evaporate. If your wrist now smells of the plant material, your tincture is ready.

If you can't smell the plants you used, you have two options. Either add more plant material and repeat the process for another 2 or 3 weeks, or allow some of the alcohol to evaporate. This will strengthen the ratio of plant to alcohol in the tincture. Either way, you'll need a little time to adjust the material.

Using tinctures for their scent is very much like using a perfume. You apply it to the warm parts of your body and let the alcohol evaporate. When it does, you are left with a pleasant scent. So you can use the tincture method to create your own perfumes, if you like. Your perfumes will be personal and special, and they're not difficult to make.