How to Make Your Own Herbal Tincture

How to Make Your Own Herbal Tincture Hair Care,Ingredients,Skin How to Make Your Own Herbal Tincture

This is so easy you're going to laugh. Go ahead - you may as well start now.

It takes a bare minimum of ingredients and just a little patience to make your own herbal tinctures. We'll be looking at different tincture uses in upcoming posts, but for now, let's start a batch!

Although you can mix and match herbs any way you want in your tincture, I personally prefer making a separate one for each herb, and then mixing and matching the resulting tinctures.

Ingredients
Alcohol (80 proof)
Dried herbs

Equipment
Glass jar with airtight closure
Small dark bottles with tight lid for your tincture

Method
Make sure all your containers are both clean and sterilized prior to use.
Fill the container with dried herbs to 3/4 full
Add vodka
Seal
Place in a cool, dark area (a cupboard shelf is great)
Leave for 2-3 weeks (turn or give the jar an occasional gentle shake)
Strain through coffee filter or double layer of cheesecloth
Bottle
Use

How Long Does a Tincture Last?
A tincture can last up to 5 years depending on the herbs you use, the proof of the vodka (at least 40% is recommended), and how good you were about keeping everything sterile and clean when you started.

What Can I Use it For?
There are dozens of possibilities! Everything from home remedy sore throat solutions to topical use is possible – it all depends on the characteristics and properties of the herb used. The tincture in the above photo is going to be incorporated into a new skin tonic idea I've been playing around with. The herb I'm using is mallow (upcoming blog post on that soon).

Here are a few classic herbs with great tincture potential:
Chamomile flowers
Lavender
Calendula (Marigold)

Stay tuned for more tincture fun!

Do Tell
Have you ever made a tincture? What did you use it for?

Read this post for tips on straining and bottling your tincture

Posted by Hodie J