Welcome! It was nice to meet you the other night. If you are here it is because you want to learn more about some of the goodies you were given at the Teacher Appreciation Day. I’d like to thank you for coming and checking us out, and I hope that I can provide you with some more information.
Please note – if you have any autoimmune disorder, echinacea may be contraindicated. Please check with your healthcare professional before using.
Echinacea Tincture – In that wax pouch I gave you is enough dried echinacea root to make a few ounces of tincture, which should be enough to last for a while. Tinctures will last for several years, even longer if you store them in amber glass with a tight seal.
Procedure
Take the dried herb and add it to a glass container, you want it to fill about 1/3 – 1/2 of the container (an empty, clean and dry spice jar will work well for the amount of herb provided). If you were using dried leaf, you would fill the jar closer to 1/2 to 3/4 full with herb. Add alcohol, and fill almost to the top, close the lid. After a day or two, you can add a little more alcohol to top it off, if necessary. Put the jar on a shelf, out of direct sunlight, and shake every few days.
With echinacea, there will be a small amount of white precipitate at the bottom of the jar after the 6 weeks. This is inulin, an excellent prebiotic, and an important part of the extracted goodness. Using a piece of cheesecloth (or a coffee filter), strain out the marc (the used up herbal material), squeezing out as much liquid as you can. You can even double or triple filter to get as clean of a tincture as possible. Store your filtered tincture in a clean dropper bottle, amber if you can (these are available at your local healthfood store or online. I like these from Amazon or these from Mountain Rose Herbs).
For echinacea, the adult dosage is 1-3 droppers at the onset of a cold or flu, and 2-3 times daily. Do not take echinacea long term, most herbalists say 2 weeks max, then take 2-3 weeks off. If you want to rebuild and enhance your immune system, elderberry is safe to be taken daily and long term.
Child dosing
Echinacea is safe to be taken by children, it is up to you whether you want to give your children the tincture, or provide echinacea in another form. Child dose of tinctures is 1/2 -1 dropper, 1-2 times a day, so it is a very small amount.
Avoiding alcohol?
You can still make use of this by following the procedure outlined above, but instead using apple cider vinegar as your solvent. You would then be preparing an extract, not a tincture, and it is slightly less effective at pulling the medicinal properties of the herb, but it will still work. You may also use the dried herb to make a tea. Water is less potent than alcohol at extracting the properties we want, but again, it will still provide some benefits.
Other options..
Tinctures are by far the most common way of taking herbal medicine. They are easy, portable, and long-lasting. They can be taken neat (straight) or added to juices or teas. Tinctures can be made of any herb, for many different purposes.
Licorice Root tincture – aids in digestion (avoid if pregnant)
California Poppy – calming nervine – it aids in sleep and rest when you are nervous (1)
Motherwort – may sooth anxiety, cardiovascular tonic (2)
Astragalus – anti-inflammatory, immune booster, and overall tonic (referred to as adaptogenic) (3) (4)
The options are endless – please do some research to determine which herbs/blends may be appropriate for you.
Red Barn Herbals 