{"id":145,"date":"2012-02-08T17:39:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-08T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/?p=145"},"modified":"2025-03-19T15:50:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T15:50:55","slug":"what-happened-to-my-tinctures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/what-happened-to-my-tinctures\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened to my tinctures?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Making your own tinctures needn't be difficult<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the effects of the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (2004\/24\/EC)<\/a> is that we\u2019re no longer allowed to sell tinctures over the counter for internal use.\u00a0 Though appropriate herbal tinctures can still be accessed on prescription after a consultation with a Medical Herbalist<\/a> (link).\u00a0 While this new regime has benefits (eg as well as offering expert advice, the herbalist will identify the correct herbs and dose for each individual) the Directive can be frustrating to people who\u2019ve grown used to buying their own tinctures unimpeded.<\/p>\n

The good news is that it\u2019s relatively easy to make your own tinctures at little cost.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s so simple that once you\u2019ve done it, you\u2019ll be such a master that you\u2019ll be spreading the technique to your friends and family!<\/p>\n

What is a tincture?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A tincture is an alcoholic extract of a substance.\u00a0 In herbal medicine, this substance is some form of plant material, such as leaves, roots or flowers, and tinctures are usually made with 25% alcohol, although 45% and 90% concentrations exist too.\u00a0 Many find tinctures convenient as they can deliver a more precise dose than a tea and they are often easier to take, especially if the taste isn’t the loveliest or there isn’t ready access to tea-making facilities.<\/p>\n

Tincture strengths normally range from one third of herb to the alcohol solution (1:3) down to one tenth of herb to alcohol solution (1:10).\u00a0 The most common strength is 1:5, meaning that 1g of herb is mixed with 5ml of liquid (the other way round this works out as 1ml of the tincture being roughly equivalent to 0.2g of the herb).\u00a0 Alcohol is used because of its powers of extraction and preservation \u2013 a tincture can be kept for many years.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t wish to use alcohol, glycerin may be used, though in general a weaker and less preserved tincture will result.<\/p>\n

What do I need?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The easiest type of alcohol to use for a home made tincture is vodka because of its high alcohol content and neutral flavour. With vodka it is fairly easy to make a 25% tincture with fresh herbs (remember that the water in the herb will reduce the alcohol percentage of the overall tincture), or a 45% tincture with dried herbs.<\/p>\n

To make a tincture, add the herb into a clean container (such as a glass jar), cover with alcohol and leave in a cool, dark place for around 3 weeks.\u00a0 Shake the bottle each day. After a few weeks the alcohol should have changed colour.\u00a0 Strain off the herb using a muslin cloth or a coffee filter, bottle in an opaque bottle and store in a cool dark place away from children and animals.\u00a0 It\u2019s always worthwhile labeling the bottle with a note of the date and what\u2019s in it.<\/p>\n

And that’s it!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hold on – what about quantities?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

To make half a litre of lavender tincture (strength 1:5, alcohol 45%) use 100 gm dried lavender flowers and 500 ml of vodka. Only use enough herb for the vodka to cover, you may have to use 50 gm initially and then repeat the process with the other 50 gm.<\/p>\n

And fresh herbs?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For fresh herbs you will need a larger weight of herb due to the water content. For instance to make marigold tincture (strength 1:5, alcohol 25%) use about 200 gm of marigold flowers and 500 ml of tincture. With fresh herbs it is very likely the process will need to be done twice. Another way to make a strong tincture is to grind the herbs down before adding the alcohol, that way more herbs can be fitted into the jar.<\/p>\n

If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, are on any medication or have a medical condition, always consult a healthcare practitioner before taking any dietary supplement or herbal remedy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since new EU restrictions came into force last year, many have found that their favourite tinctures are no longer on sale over the counter. However, with a little time and some basic items, you can make your own tinctures with the minimum of fuss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,15,16],"tags":[36,35,91,34,32,33],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1790,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions\/1790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodlandherbs.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}