Herbal Tinctures Made Easy: Part 3 of 3

Tincturing using the Weight to Volume Method: Part 3 of 3

Weight to Volume Method
In our final entry on Herbal Tinctures Made Easy, we will share a method of tincturing that is more precise than the Folk Method. If using a mild herb in powder or whole dried form, such as Stinging Nettle or Dandelion, a 1:5 ratio (weight of dried herb to 100 ml of alcohol diluted with water to 25-45%) is recommended. Theoretically, you would be ingesting the equivalent of 20 grams of the dried herb. If using fresh Nettles, a 1:2 ratio (weight of fresh herb to 100 ml of 50-80% alcohol) would be efficient, providing approximately 50 gm of fresh Nettles.

Grind the dried herb into a coarse powder (with mortar and pestle), or use fresh; weigh and add to a bottle; prepare menstruum (use pure or dilute with water); add the measured menstruum to the powdered herb in the bottle; stir mixture thoroughly (herb should be completely wet, with no dry clumps); cap bottle tightly; shake tincture daily for 14 days, then allow it to sit one more day (or for 3 days and let sit for one day if using a fine powder); strain (with a fine strainer) the tincture, pouring the liquid off into another bottle; press the liquid out of the remaining powder (mark) into the bottle; filter (with a coffee filter) the tincture if any sediment is undesirable; cap bottle tightly and label.

Remember to label your bottles with the herb and menstruum types used, as well as the ratio strength and date you made them. A tincture made with powder extracts the active constituents very quickly. Shake the bottle of herb and alcohol daily to ensure the extraction activity is thorough. Three days is all it takes to have a potent herbal tincture when using fine powders. Fresh herb extractions take longer, about two weeks, shaken every day. A well made tincture can easily be store for several years, without losing potency. Remember, the bottle must be dark, and stored away from sunlight and heat to prevent degradation.

Dosages
Since the Folk Method for tincturing is more of a craft than a science, the dosage is generally measured in teaspoons (5 ml). A dose might vary from a ¼ to ½ teaspoon, 2 to 3 times per day for general health maintenance up to 2 teaspoons, 3 times per day for an acute illness, depending on the herb and health indication you intend it for.

Tinctures using the Weight to Volume Method are best administered using medicinal droppers, but it’s also fine to use the traditional measurements listed above. The dosage could vary considerably for mild herbs, from up to five droppersful, 2 to 3 times per day. For moderately intense herbs with a ratio of 1:5, such as Echinacea or St. John’s Wort, you could take a dosage ranging from 10 to 25 drops, 3 to 4 times a day. For stronger, more toxic herbs such as Cayenne, a 1:10 ratio is ideal. Because Cayenne is such a ‘hot’ herb, a dosage of a single drop might be sufficient. The beauty of making your own herbal tinctures at home is that you are free to experiment; just be mindful to research first and be respectful of the power these botanicals have to offer.

As you will come to find out, medicine making at home can be immensely gratifying. Herbalist and author of The Medicine-Maker’s Handbook, James Green sums the experience up wonderfully, “And like dancing, once you find the rhythm of the music and begin moving your body with it, you’ll never want to stop.” Be creative, experiment, and have fun! Our ancestors surely did, and for their incredible resourcefulness we have been blessed with the knowledge to make herbal tinctures at home. Best of all, it’s free! Wild plants offer us the invaluable potential for health and healing in our own back yards, as Mother Nature intended.



Cautionary note:
The information offered in this article is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Please do not attempt self-medication without consulting your naturopath or medical doctor. Be cautious; homemade tinctures can vary in strength.

About the author:
Daina is the Product Manager for Naturally Nova Scotia. She joined the ‘family’ in 1998 with a background in horticulture and strong interest in traditional herbal medicine. Throughout the years she has worked the fields- planting and harvesting, production, research and development, and now enjoys directing packaging design, writing and editing, and contributing to various media resources.

Press Release: Naturally Nova Scotia Introduces its Research & Development Team

Please click on the PDF link below to view our latest Press Release!
http://www.prlog.org/10211072-naturally-nova-scotia-introduces-its-research-development-team.pdf

Herbal Tinctures Made Easy: Part 2 of 3

Tincturing using the Folk Method
by Daina Scarola

Folk Method
As mentioned in Herbal Tinctures Made Easy: Part 1, this is the easiest method of tincturing for the novice home herbalist. It is fast, fun, and doesn’t require complicated dilutions and measurements. If you live in Canada, some wild herbs growing in your area might include Red Clover, Dandelion, Horsetail, Nettles, Coltsfoot, and Plantain.

Take time to fully enjoy the process of getting to know the herbs in your area.
Delight your senses! As children we savored the sweet taste of Red Clover, plucking and nibbling each flower petal one at a time. Some plant parts will taste mild and green, while others will taste unpalatably bitter. Licorice root smells pleasantly as it should, while Valerian root thickens the air with a pungent perfume and could make you sleepy if inhaled too deeply.

· Harvest the herb fresh in season;
· wash them thoroughly to remove any lingering critters and debris;
· macerate the herb to break the cells, enabling the constituents to be released;
· stuff a container full of the macerated herb;
· fill the bottle to the rim with vodka (or other undiluted menstruum), covering the herb completely;
· cap the bottle tightly (seal must be air-tight);
· check the bottle after 12 hours and top up if herb has absorbed some of the menstruum;
· shake the tincture daily for 14 days, then allow it to sit one more day;
· strain (with a strainer or colander) the tincture, pouring the liquid off into another bottle;
· press (with a cheesecloth) the liquid out of the remaining pulp into the bottle;
· filter (with a coffee filter) the tincture if any sediment is undesirable;
· cap bottle tightly and label.

In our next post, we will share with you the last method in our short series- tincturing using the Weight to Volume Method.

~
Cautionary note:
The information offered in this article is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Please do not attempt self-medication without consulting your naturopath or medical doctor. Be cautious; homemade tinctures can vary in strength.

About the author:
Daina is the Product Manager for Naturally Nova Scotia. She joined the ‘family’ in 1998 with a background in horticulture and strong interest in traditional herbal medicine. Throughout the years she has worked the fields- planting and harvesting, production, research and development, and now enjoys directing packaging design, writing and editing, and contributing to various media resources.

Echinacea photograph taken by Dr. Charles Hu.

Herbal Tinctures Made Easy: Part 1 of 3 Introduction

by Daina Scarola

Have you ever browsed through the supplement aisle of your local pharmacy and felt overwhelmed by all the exotic names on little glass bottles- Motherwort, Black Cohosh, Saw Palmetto…? Understanding herbs and their indications can be a little like learning a new language, elusive at first. But it doesn’t have to be. Since the beginning of life on Earth, plants have provided for all living things in great abundance. Our ancestors shared vital knowledge we depend on today to identify and use herbs for health and healing. We will show you how you can apply this knowledge to reap the benefits of the many medicinal herbs growing wild in your own back yard. With a few easy steps, you will learn how to prepare herbal tinctures inexpensively at home, and have fun discovering this new craft!

While many herbs are frowned upon as mere ‘weeds’, it is said that a cure for what ails you is often found growing nearby. Take the common Dandelion, for example. The entire plant is an excellent liver and kidney tonic, while also providing many essential nutrients. Considering the average North American diet, most of us could potentially benefit from this plant! Tinctures can be used topically or administered orally, and some herbs can be applied both ways, such as Echinacea. This plant’s flowers and roots have antibacterial properties. Taken internally, an Echinacea tincture would be beneficial for helping your immune system fight a cold, or it could be applied to a skin wound as a disinfectant to help it heal. Make sure you do your research before harvesting herbs; many have toxic look-alikes. Herb identification books are a great resource, the internet is a library at your fingertips, or you can seek out your local herbalist for advice. With practice identifying wild herbs in their natural environment, you will eventually come to know these lovely plants like old friends.

There are two basic tincturing methods we will discuss; one requires measurements, the other doesn’t. The traditional method, or Folk Method, is the easiest to prepare and is good for general personal use. Equipment is minimal and the resultant potency is variable. The bottles of tinctures you find on your local pharmacy shelves are manufactured using the Weight to Volume Method. This enables the potency to be measured and controlled, and is important when you prepare a tincture that will be used by others.

One manufacturer that began using the Folk Method in its infancy and switched to the Weight to Volume Method for preparing herbal tinctures for market is Naturally Nova Scotia Health Products Ltd. This unique company started out in one entrepreneurial woman’s kitchen and grew into a 400-acre farmstead. It is now a successful leading producer and processor of certified organic nutritional supplements, employing over 40 staff on the scenic eastern shore of Nova Scotia.

The founder and president of Naturally Nova Scotia, Nancy Smithers, began her love affair with herbs in 1993. Nancy began researching local wild plants under the apprenticeship of an herbalist friend. She foraged through the lands of Nova Scotia looking for medicinal herbs in marshes and woods, sometimes wondering if she had lost her mind. While she had deep family roots in nature, Nancy’s main inspiration came from her sister, a physiotherapist interested in natural healing remedies for use in her practice. Considering the centuries of traditional herbal knowledge passed down from early medicine man to modern practitioner, high quality organic remedies were difficult to source.

Nancy started out harvesting fresh herbs and packed them in amber glass bottles using the Folk Method, filling them to the rim with ethyl alcohol. “I had to put a secure lock on my wine cellar at home in order to legally be able to use ethanol. The liquor commission had to come and approve the cellar and the lock!” she laughs. Today the company continues to use ethyl alcohol as the main preservative, or menstruum, for their tinctures, as well as glycerin. However, more readily available alternatives for the home herbalist are vodka, gin, rum, wine, and vinegar. Choose healthy-looking herbs as these make the best quality tinctures. If you are unable to harvest herbs fresh, visit your local health food store. Many will offer the option to purchase small quantities of bulk dried herbs for adventurous medicine-makers like yourself!

Before you begin, collect all your tools and ingredients. You will need a strainer or colander, cheesecloth, and coffee filters. Containers to bottle your tincture should be made of enamel, glass, or clay- not metal. If using glass bottles, make sure they are dark-coloured to protect your tincture from sunlight. Bottles with a wide mouth are good for the tincturing process, while narrow-mouthed bottles are good for final storage and dispensing. Your local packaging supply company should have these in stock. If not, do a search on-line. Bottles and caps or droppers (pipettes) should be sterilized by washing in very hot water or steaming. Utensils should include either a mortar and pestle or a food processor. Nancy tried to chop yellow dock, a large dense tuberous root, with a kitchen knife which kept breaking, and left her hands so sore that she could not move them easily for days. Make sure you have the right tools! And prepare yourself for a bit of a mess. Nancy remembers “The kitchen looked like a disaster area with dirt and herb dropping everywhere.” A machete and a large chopping block outdoors would also work just fine, and is a great way to release stress.

In the following weeks, we will go over recipes for each method. The formula ratio of solid material (weight) to liquid menstruum (volume) can vary depending on which state the herb is in- powdered, whole dried, or fresh. It can also vary if you are using a strong medicinal herb (toxic) or a mild medicinal herb (non-toxic). Whole dried herb should be pulverized with a mortar and pestle to a moderately coarse powder. Fresh herbs are more efficiently extracted when macerated. You can use a mortar and pestle for fine leaves or flowers, a sharp machete for large roots, or a food processor for all. Make sure you work quickly and don’t let the fresh macerated herb sit too long; the medicinal constituents will oxidize quickly, resulting in a lower potency tincture.

In our next post, we will share with you the first method in our short series- tincturing using the Folk Method.

Cautionary note:
The information offered in this article is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Please do not attempt self-medication without consulting your naturopath or medical doctor. Be cautious; homemade tinctures can vary in strength.

About the author:
Daina is the Product Manager for Naturally Nova Scotia. She joined the ‘family’ in 1998 with a background in horticulture and strong interest in traditional herbal medicine. Throughout the years she has worked the fields- planting and harvesting, production, research and development, and now enjoys directing packaging design, writing and editing, and contributing to various media resources.

Want to be Healthy? Then Don’t Believe Everything you Read

By Beth Ann Knowles, BSc, P.T.S., N.W.S.

Be a critic, be sceptical, and whatever you do, don’t believe everything you read! This advice applies to many facets of life but I am referring specifically to health, fitness, and nutrition ‘information’. Many of you have begun a New Year’s journey to attain better health and wellbeing and I wouldn’t want your goals to be hampered by products or programs full of false promises. In achieving your health and wellness goals it is extremely important to educate yourself; read magazines, journals, and books, watch shows, listen to radio broadcasts, and talk to professionals. Gain as much knowledge as possible so you can better understand products and services and how they may or may not help you.

Let’s look at a journal article claiming that ephedrine is a great aid to your workouts and your battle to shed pounds. The article was published in a respected and well-established journal. There were four authors who collaborated on the information. The information was presented clearly with supporting graphs and charts. As well, a long list of references and sources from other respected journals was provided. Sounds like a resource you can trust doesn’t it? But did you notice who provided funding for the article? It was a company that sells ephedrine as an ergogenic aid. Remember, companies want to sell their products. Research and articles they help fund may be slightly one-sided; embellishing the supporting evidence while conveniently leaving out information contradicting effectiveness or safety.

Magazines are one of the best resources for health and fitness advertising gimmicks. Some companies will purchase four and five page ads for their product and display the advertising in a way that leads the reader to believe it is an actual magazine article. The first page will show a before and after picture of a person; once slouching, frowning, and pale, this individual has now trimmed down, built muscle, and taken up tanning and smiling. In the following pages you will read how the person achieved their success. Their fitness program will be given as well as a few of their ‘body blasting’ exercises. Their ‘nutrition makeover menu’ will be described which will conveniently include a great tasting protein shake for lunch, a carbohydrate bar in the afternoon, and another shake before a workout. Again the person will be depicted, smiling and consuming whatever product is being pushed. Remember, expensive proteins or products don’t work on their own. The person in the advertisement adopted a healthy lifestyle and worked hard to achieve their results.

Magazines can be very contradictory and confusing as well. One will praise the antioxidant power of dark chocolate while the next issue will recommend avoiding chocolate at all costs. If you hear about a diet/lifestyle change that interests you, do more research. Find out if the diet adjustment will provide you with adequate amounts of the six essential nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, water, vitamins, minerals, and yes, even fat. Talk to a Registered Dietician about how the infamous low carb, high protein diet will affect your body in the long run. Learn how fats can aid your training and results and which fats are good and which should be eaten in moderation. Find out which vitamins and minerals you might be lacking and visit your local health food store to find a nutrient supplement that is right for you. Make sure you don’t take the word of one author or ‘guru’; get a second or third opinion. Don’t start taking 10,000 mg of Vitamin C daily and begin power lifting just because your neighbour swears by it. Through educating yourself you will discover the lifestyle, fitness regime, and nutritional habits that work best for you.

Next time you’re sitting home on a rainy Saturday afternoon, take note of all the infomercials plaguing our television channels. Products vary from abdominal belts that shock you into a ‘flatter tummy’ to energy drinks ‘scientifically formulated’ to provide you with all the energy to fuel your workouts. First be wary of all the pretty words and phrases used to coerce consumers into buying the product. ‘Fat blasting’, ‘100% Pure Ion Exchange Protein Isolate’, ‘Revolutionary’, and ‘Body Shaping’ are phrases that are making nutrition and fitness companies rich. Infomercials will also portray an individual who has gone from ‘flab to fit’ miraculously in a short period of time, all thanks to the advertised product. Check the fine print at the bottom of the screen during the infomercial. Often it will say that individual results may vary or ‘this product, paired with a nutritious diet and exercise regime will help you see results’. Well, a nutritious diet and exercise regime will help you see results regardless if you eat the $10.00 protein bar twice a day.

Maybe you’d like to take a supplement to boost your energy and vitality. There are thousands out there that claim to do this but not all products do or contain what they say. You can learn a lot from reading labels. Supplements that are certified organic will display the logo from their organic certifying body (ie. the USDA Organic logo). If a product claiming to be certified organic does not have an organic logo, I would be wary purchasing it. As well, “[a]ll natural health products (NHPs) sold in Canada require a product license before being marketed. Obtaining a license requires submitting to Health Canada detailed information on the product, including:

§ medicinal ingredients
§ source
§ potency
§ non-medicinal ingredients, and
§ recommended use.

The issuance of a product license means that the product has been assessed by Health Canada and has been found to be safe, effective and of high quality under its recommended conditions of use. Stakeholders can identify licensed natural health products by looking for the eight-digit Natural Product Number (NPN) or Homeopathic Medicine Number (DIN-HM) designation on the label.” (www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodnatur/applications/licen-prod) Additionally, if a natural health product label does not show an NPN, there is a chance the product is currently under review. You can find up-to-date information on all natural health product applicants and applications on the Health Canada website, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/.

So you see how important it is to be critical of everything you hear, read and see concerning nutrition, exercise, and health. Head to your favourite bookstore or library, choose some literature, and surf the Internet, but make sure you also talk to a Natural Health Practitioner, Registered Dietician, or Personal Trainer. Read labels and ask a Pharmacist. Don’t believe everything you come across… if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And if you see a product that claims ‘fitness in a bottle,’ be wary that you’re not putting your ‘money down the toilet’. A nutritionally rich and balanced diet and exercise routine is something you adopt for life and requires effort and determination. Remember, fitness and health can’t be accomplished effortlessly but they can be accomplished.

About the Author:
Beth Ann has a degree in Sciences from Dalhousie University and is a Personal Trainer and Nutrition and Wellness Specialist. Additionally, Beth Ann has a personal interest in holistic wellness and sustainable environmental practices and enjoys being the Canadian Sales Manager for Naturally Nova Scotia Health Products.

Welcome!

The fresh ocean breeze is carrying the welcome rainshowers of spring. This brings to mind dreams of cultivating my veggie garden, the gentle warmth of sunshine, and of course, fresh growth and change.

I am sipping tea and gazing at a couple photo clippings of gardens that I find very inspiring. This spring my husband and I plan to build a beautiful rustic fence to protect the garden from critters, big and small, but also to frame it in a way that is meaningful.

In many ways this blog will be like a flourishing garden framed by a collage of wellness knowledge. But sometimes fences are meant to be hopped, and gates are for wandering through. I look forward to the many tangents this journey is surely going to offer. Along with my colleagues and friends at Naturally Nova Scotia, we will post topics of interest, and share our own personal ideas. We want to learn from your experiences as well, and hope you will learn from ours. Please email me with your questions, stories, experiences, photos, and comments. We would love to hear from you!!

Here is the photo I have on my office wall next to my computer. I hope this brings you inspiration for new growth and change as we continue our journey together...

~Daina Deblette Scarola

~Photo of Donna Krakovitz Feiner's garden in Country Living magazine.~


~From left: Jeanette Peters, Daina Scarola, Beth Ann Knowles.~


~The Naturally Nova Scotia family, 2007. I think we need a new group shot!~


~Dayley the Llama. Check back often for Dayley's Weekly Eco Bites!~