Method
Tinctures and the herb shelf
How to turn Dillsboro plants into jars that last. Folk method, doses, what not to brew.
8 min read
What this is
A tincture is an herb extracted in drinking alcohol so it keeps. A tea is water and an afternoon. A syrup is honey and a cold. A salve is oil and wax for skin. None of them replace the first-aid chapters. They fill the gap between a scratchy Thursday and a real emergency.
Warning. Identify the plant twice. White snakeroot is not boneset. Poison hemlock is not yarrow. Poke is not elder. If you are not sure, do not drink it. Camera ID plus this book is still not a sworn witness — look at the leaf.
The folk tincture
- Clean dry jar. Chop the plant.
- Fresh: fill the jar. Dry: fill one-third to half.
- Cover by a finger of 80–100 proof vodka or whiskey. Keep plant under liquid.
- Label the plant, fresh or dry, proof, and the date. Four weeks in the dark. Shake when you pass.
- Strain through cloth, squeeze, bottle, label again.
Tip. If you have a scale: fresh 1:2 (weight herb to volume spirit), dry 1:5. Folk method is how this county did it when the drugstore was a day’s wagon.
Tea, decoction, syrup, oil, salve
| Method | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Infusion (steep, covered) | Leaves and flowers — mint, sage, mullein, chamomile |
| Decoction (simmer) | Barks and roots — willow, dandelion root, spicebush twigs |
| Syrup / honey | Coughs and kids over one — elder, thyme, onion |
| Oil | Ear (intact drum), salve base — mullein flower, calendula, plantain |
| Salve (oil + beeswax) | Cracked hands, shallow scrapes after washing |
| Poultice | Right now, in the yard — plantain, yarrow, jewelweed |
| Steam | A tight winter chest — thyme, mullein |
Doses without a pharmacist
Adult tincture for a short illness: 1–2 droppers (1–2 ml) up to three times a day, three to five days, then stop and see. Tea: a mug, not a gallon. Bitter herbs (yarrow, boneset, willow) are sip medicines.
Children: food herbs as weak tea (mint, catnip, chamomile) if they already eat those plants. No alcohol tinctures. No honey under one year. No willow or aspirin-family anything with a viral illness.
Pregnancy: food amounts of kitchen herbs. Skip yarrow, sage-as-medicine, strong tinctures, and anything you cannot name. When in doubt, tea of mint or the med chest.
Do not brew these
Poke, bloodroot, mayapple, foxglove (if someone planted it), pennyroyal, comfrey as a tea, white snakeroot, any mushroom ‘medicine,’ and anything you identified with a shrug. Internal comfrey and pennyroyal have hurt livers and pregnancies. This book will not give you those recipes.
Warning. Herbs are not antibiotics for a red-streak infection, not insulin, not epinephrine, and not a reason to skip the tourniquet chapter.
