For those who know me, and those who don't, you might realize that I tend to easily get a bit over-zealous in my views at times.... I tend to go to extremes easily whether it be good or bad.  One area that I know I do this with is my take on herbs... If I'm going to go natural, I'm going to go all of the way, not just part way. 

This is obviously a very stupid thing for me to do... it doesn't require thought on any level and is not really a valid thing to do as it isn't for the best of my family.  It has unfortunately been seen in my tinctures.

Up until now I have only made tinctures with alcohol, mainly vodka.  The only change in this was when a friend gave me a bottle of Everclear and I tinctured it.  I had never drank Everclear and there were a few drops left in the bottle so I turned it up and chugged what was left.  I do drink alcohol on occasion, but didn't realize that Everclear was the equivalent of radioactive waste..... Let me just say that it burned my lips where the bottle touched and burned allllllll the way down to my stomach. 

 I had long forgotten the cold and flu tincture I made from this until I gave a dose to the Princess and she made a  horrible face and started screaming about the burn.  I took a few drops myself and realized, this was the Everclear. 
When we need this tincture we take the drops and put them in a mug, pour boiling water over the top, and add a bit of honey for the kids to take it....  This way the alcohol was evaporated and my kids weren't too sad.

So.... what are the other options?

This past week I made my first glycerin tincture.   I combined all of the herbs in a mason jar and added a bit of hot/boiling water just to moisten the herbs.  I then filled the jar with glycerin.  The glycerin was from the health food store and HAS to be food grade.

I then stirred the contents and put it in the crock pot.  Essentially you want to make a water bath for the tincture to sit in.  I put a folded towel under the jar and filled the crock with water coming half-way up the side of the mason jar.  My crock pot has a keep warm setting and this works well I have found.

I kept the tincture in the crock pot for 3 days; I would stir it once or twice a day, and check and make sure that there was plenty of water in the crock.

After 3 days, I strained the herbs from the glycerin thru a piece of cheesecloth.  After squeezing as much a possible out, I poured a small amount of boiling water over the herbs to release the last bit of glycerin that they contained.

I then bottled the tincture and labelled it.  The kids both now enjoy taking their herbs!

I don't plan on giving up my alcohol tinctures altogether, but I may plan on doing more glycerin ones in the future.  I may also do some of both and then combine them (using the same herbs in each) as they both lead to the release of different herb properties from being heated (glycerin) and being macerated a longer time(alcohol).

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COLD TINCTURE

1 part Peppermint

1 part Mullein

1 part Yarrow

1/2 part Echinacea root