Decoctions
How to Make an Herbal Decoction
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When creating herbal remedies that involves tough plant parts like roots, bark, and berries, the decoction method is needed to aggressively extract all of the ingredients needed to receive natural benefits. Heating the plant material and cold water, bringing it to a boil, and then letting it simmer for about 20 to 40 minutes is the usually way to generate a decoction. This article will explain the process in more detail.
After deciding to create a decoction, you may choose from an array of herb selections to make some of the most fascinating combinations. Others will select just one type of herb to work with. When making the standard quantity, decoctions can be drunk while cold or hot. Usually, one recipe is enough to make three doses and it is important to take decoctions that are freshly brewed.
The part used in the process of making a decoction is pieces of bark, berries, as well as fresh or dried roots. The standard quantity associated with a decoction is to add 30 grams of dried or 60 grams of fresh herb to 750 ml of cold water. After the decoction has entered the simmering process, the results will measure around 500 ml of liquid. When using a combination of herbs, it is suggested to accurately measure out the total weight of herbs so that the mixture does not exceed the recommended standard amount.
When taking a decoction, there are also standard doses to follow. It is suggested to take a teacup full of a decoction for three times per day. When taking repeated doses, the decoction should be heated. Sometimes, (depending on the herbs used) a little sweetener is needed to make a decoction easier to stomach. Some individuals like to add a little unrefined sugar or honey, while others add lemon juice as flavoring. When serving a decoction to a child or the elderly, the amount given should be reduced.
Leftover decoction should be stored in a covered jug and taken to a cool place. They also keep well I n the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. For the best results, people usually make new decoctions at the start of each day and toss out any remaining amounts that have not been used.
Directions
The equipment involved in making a decoction includes a saucepan (ceramic, enamel, or stainless steel), nylon or plastic sieve, and a jug with a lid for storage. It is important no to use an aluminum saucepan to follow the directions. For starters, you should place the herb or herbs in a saucepan and pour over the cold water. Next, the mixture should be brought to a boil and simmered for about 20 to 40 minutes until the total volume has reached 1/3 of its original size. The decoction should be taken off of the heat and strained through a nylon or plastic sieve into a jug. The decoction should be poured into a covered jug and stored in a cool place or a refrigerator.
From:
http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_6902.shtmlMaking Decoctions and Syrups
Wise Woman Wisdom ... |
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Herbal Pharmacy
Making Decoctions and Syrups
by Susun Weed
In your herbal pharmacy you transform fresh and dried plants into herbal medicines.Learning to identify and use the common plants around you is easy and exciting, beneficial and safe. Making your own medicines saves you money if you follow the Wise Woman tradition of using local herbs, free for the taking.
Even one day's work in field, forest, and kitchen can provide you with many years' worth of medicines. When you make your own, you know for sure what's in it, where it came from, when and how it was harvested, and how fresh and potent it is.
Dried herbs are best for the infusions recommended in this book. Stock your herbal pharmacy with your own foraged or cultivated dried herbs; expand your resources and experiment with new herbs by buying dried herbs from reputable sources.
Fresh herbs are best for the tinctures and oils recommended in this book. If you can't make your own, buy from sources who wildcraft or grow their own herbs to use fresh in preparations.
Whether you buy or make your own medicines, remember, herbal remedies may not work or may work incorrectly if they aren't prepared correctly. Read this chapter carefully; it contains easy to follow instructions for every remedy and preparation mentioned in this book [Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year].
Herbal Decoctions and Syrups
Decoction, or simple decoction, is my term for an infusion which has been reduced to one-half its volume by slow evaporation. A double decoction is an infusion reduced to one-fourth of its original volume. Some herbalists use "decoction" to refer to what I call an infusion; others use it to mean something closer to tea.
Decoctions keep longer than infusions if carefully stored under refrigeration. Decoctions are more potent than infusions; this makes them invaluable when dealing with children and animals. The smaller dose is more easily administered.
Decocting is an excellent way to prepare an herb with a terrible taste, such as Yellow Dock root, so it can be consumed without gagging. Adding a bit of some nice tasting brandy or liqueur to decoctions enhances the taste and the keeping qualities.
Decoctions of roots and barks are often prepared; decoctions of leaves, flowers, or seeds are rarely prepared. Since decoctions are made by evaporation, the volatile essences are water-soluble vitamins in the leaves, flowers, and seeds are lost in the process.
I always make decoctions when I have to be in the same room as the stove for the entire evaporating time. With such a low heat, decoctions rarely burn, but if you become involved in something else, there is the danger of reducing the liquid to a scorched nothing. For a pint of infusion (two cups), about an hour is needed to reduce it by half.
Making a Decoction
- Begin by straining the plant material out of the infusion and discarding it.
- Measure the liquid.
- Heat the liquid until it begins to steam; this is before it simmers and long before it boils.
- Stand right there and watch for the steam to start rising. When it does, turn the heat down very low.
- Steam until the liquid is reduced to half or one-quarter of what it was in the beginning. A little stainless steel pan with measuring marks on the side is of invaluable assistance in this process, but you can also judge by the mark left on the side of the pan as the liquid level falls. Or you can measure it.
- Pour the decoction into a clean or sterile bottle.
- Label with the contents, strength, and date. Example: Simple decoction of Witch Hazel bark, Dec. '84.
- Optional: Add one tablespoon of brandy or spirit per four ounces of decoction.
- Cap well
- Cool at room temperature, then store in the refrigerator. Some decoctions may keep for as long as a year, others ferment and sour within a few months.
Dosage: A simple decoction is four times as potent as an infusion. One cup (8 ounces) of infusion is equal to one-quarter cup (2 ounces) of a simple decoction. Use up to one tablespoon for an infant.
Double decocting increases the strength of the infusion by a factor of sixteen (four times four). So the dose equivalent of one 8 ounce cup is only one tablespoon (1/2 ounce). The usual infant dose is half a teaspoon of double decoction.
Making a Syrup
Add sugar or honey to any type of decoction, and you have a syrup. The extra sweetness makes some herbs more palatable, soothes the throat, and can improve keeping qualities.
How much sugar or honey should you add? The exact amount is determined by weight. A standard for syrups is an equal amount, by weight, of sugar and decoction.
One cup (8 fluid ounces) of water or decoction, weighs half a pound (8 ounces). So one cup of decoction requires half a pound of sugar.
Honey is about twice as sweet as sugar. Use a quarter of a pound (4 ounces) of honey to every cup of decoction. One level tablespoon of honey weighs about one ounce.
- Add the sweetener to the hot liquid
- Increase the fire until the brew just comes to a boil.
- Pour the boiling hot syrup into a bottle and cap it. Sterilized bottles reduce the risk of producing unexpected herbal fermentations. But the boiling liquid kills many yeasts in the bottle.
- Optional: Add one tablespoon of brandy, vodka, etc. to further stabilize the syrup.
- Store the syrup in the refrigerator once it cools. Syrups keep for 3-6 months.
Depending on the herbs in your original infusion, you can make a cough syrup (Comfrey root and Wild Cherry bark), an iron tonic (Yellow Dock and Dandelion roots), a soothing syrup (Valerian root), or any other medicinal syrup.
Dosage: Generally, one teaspoon of syrup is a dose for a 125-150 pound person. The dose is repeated as needed, up to 8 times daily. Use a half teaspoonful for 60-75 pound children and a quarter teaspoonful for 30 pounds or smaller.
Summary of Syrup Proportions
- Begin with one pint (16 ounces) of infusion
- Reduce the liquid to half its original amount (8 ounces).
- Add an equal amount, by weight, of sugar (8 ounces or 1/2 pound), or half the amount, by weight, of honey (4 ounces or 4 tablespoons).
Green Blessings.
Susun Weed
From:
http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/July07/wisewoman.htmMaking Remedies
Making Remedies |
When making a compress you will need a cloth, herbs, and water.
- Make a cool solution of herbs and water.
- Soak the cloth in the herb solution.
- Apply the compress to the affected area.
A decoction is defined as an herb that has been simmered in water. Decoctions are best for the firmer or more leathery parts of the plant, such as bark, roots, tough leaves, and stems as they draw the medicine of the plants out well. To make a decoction, use ceramic, earthenware, glass, or unbroken enameled cast iron pots. If you are using astringent plants, do not use plain cast iron pots. When making a decoction, the ratio of water to herbs should be one pint of boiling water to every ounce of herbs.
- Boil the water.
- When the water has boiled, bring the heat down and let the herbs simmer in the water for half an hour to an hour.
- Once the herbs have simmered, the decoction should be strained because when decoctions cool, they tend to separate. If the decoction is strained when it is hot, the parts that separate can be mixed together by shaking when the medicine is used.
An electuary is a powder that is mixed with syrup, brown sugar, honey, or glycerin. This is done to make the powder easier to take internally or to give it a pleassant taste. Prepare electuaries when they are needed rather than in advance, as they tend to harden.
- Mix the powder with syrup or honey. Different types of powders require different amounts of syrup or honey. Gum resins usually require two-thirds of their weight, mineral substances about half of their weight, and light vegetable powders twice their weight. If you are using a powder that was puchased in a store, check the label to see if the powder requires a specific amount of syrup.
- If you do prepare the elecuary in advance and is hardens, add more syrup or honey. If it swells up and gives off gas, beat it with a mortar and pestle.
Extracts are the solid substances that form when the liquid part of a solution evaporates. Extracts are best when a person is severly ill. The extract can also be added to juices and taken while fasting. These are some of common herb extracts found in most health stores: celery, echinacea, fig, goldenseal, hawthorn, horsetail, nettle, parsley, pau d'arco, pumpkin, red beet crystals, red clover, suma, and valerian root. There are three methods for obtaining extracts. All are shown here
Method 1
- Make a solution with alcohol as the solvent and an herb as the solute.
- Evaporate the alcohol.
- Apply the exract to the affected part.
Method 2
- Express the juice of a plant.
- Apply the part of the plant that remains to the affected part of the body or take it internally.
Method 3
- Make a strong tea.
- Simmer the tea to thicken it. The last makes a decoction rather than an actual extract, but it can be used in the same way as an extract because the tea has been distilled into the most active parts of the plant. To preserve an extract, add one-fourth of a teaspoon of glycerin, tincture of benzoin, or alcohol (such as gin, brandy, or vodka).
Fomentations are useful for wounds, bruises, and sore or strained muscles. You will needa cloth, a strong herbal tea, and fresh herbs to put in the cloth.
- Dip a cloth in the tea.
- Fill the cloth with herbs and apply it to the hurt part of the body.
To make an herb vinegar, you will need fresh or dired herbs, raw apple cider vinegar or malt liquor, and a large jar.
- Put the herb in the raw apple cider vinegar or malt liquor.
- Leave it to stand for two or more weeks.
An infusion is water that an herb is steeped in. Make sure not to boil the water as this creates a decoction or tea rather than an infusion. Infusions can be made hot or cold, and are ideal for more tender parts of a plant, such as leaves or flowers. The origin of the witches potion comes from the idea of infusions.
The best parts of plants to use for hot infusions are powdered bark, seeds, roots, resin, and bruised parts of the plant such as seeds, nuts, buds, and bark. Hot infusions can be used in the bath, as teas, to anoint the body, or to rub into furniture or floors.
- Bring water to a boil.
- Add a teaspoon of dried herbs and let the mixture steep for nine to thirteen minutes.
- Strain the mixture and let it cool.
Cold infusions can be used as teas or as poultices.
- Put the herb in cold milk or water.
- Let it steep for at least three hours.
Oils are made by distilling plants, evaporation from petals, or by cold extraction. To extract volatile oils, steep aromatic plants in fruit, nut, or vegetable oils. Essential oils can be made by combining aromatic oils and rectified alcohol, or by steeping of aromatic oils in alcohol. Once extracted, the essential oil can be used as an eyewash, earwash, mouthwash or for massage or cuts and abrasions, as they combine easily withthe natural oils of the skin.
To make an oil, use newly picked fresh or dried herbs.
- Pack the herbs into a large jar.
- Add enough monounsaturated or polyunsturated oil to cover the herb. Close the jar tightly and label it with the name of the herb.
- Place the labeled jar in a sunny place and leave it for at least three weeks.
- When enough time has passed, strain the mixture through a cheesecloth. You can do this by covering the opening of the jar with the cheesecloth and attaching it securely with a rubber band. Once it is attached, pour the oil through the cheesecloth into another jar.
- Make sure to squeeze all of the oil out of the herbs before throwing them away.
- Pack a clean jar with more of the same herb.
- Add the infused oil.
- Repeat steps 2-5.
Store the oil in a clean jar labeled with the name of the herb.
An ointment is a salve that the powdered form of an herb or an essesntial oil has been added to.
To make an oil, you will need a powder or an essential oil and a fatty or oily substance. The traditional base for ointments is pork lard. Purified, liquid anhydrous lanolin, almond oil, cocoa butter, wheat germ, and vitamin E can also be used. Pork lard is the best to use because it has healing abilites even before the oils are added to it. Lanolin is good because it is the closest to skin oil, but you cannot be sure of getting a pure sample. Vaseline can also be used, but it is best to try this only as a last resort.
As well as your herb and a base, you will need a thickener to be used on the final product. Lanolin and cocoa butter are good for this as mix well and are not sticky. Glycerin, honey, and liguis lecithin are also good, but they are stickier than lanolin or cocoa butter. You can also use powdered gum or resin that has been soaked in cold water and then simmered in gently boiling water. Agar-agar and Irish moss can also be used, and green apples are also good because they add a healing acid fruit pectin to creams and ointments.
After you have used the thickener, you will also need a wax to harden the ointment or cream. beeswax alone or in combination with paraffin wax is the best hardener. You only need a small amount of this.
Another part of an ointment is the preservative. This is not absolutely necessary, especially if you make the ointment in small batches, close the jars tightly, and seal them with paraffin wax. If you do want to use a preservative, you can use benzoin, poplar bud tincture, or glycerin.
When you have gathered all that you need (herb, base, thickener, hardener, and a preservative if you want one), you can begin to make your ointment.
- Heat the base and the herb together until the plant has lost its normal color. This is when the base has fully absorbed the healing essence of the plant.
- Strain the plant out of the ointment.
- Add your thickener.
- Add your hardener.
- Store the ointment in a small, tightly closed jar. Make sure to label the jar with the name of the herb used in the ointment.
Poultices are used for sore or inflammed muscles to relieves the pain and inflammation.
- Use ground or granulated herbs.
- Put the herbs, flour, and mustard in a cloth, preferably muslin.
- Apply the poultice to the affected part of the body for one to eight hours. Change the cloth when it has cooled down.
To make a powder, you will need and herb and a mortar and pestle.
- Grind the useful parts of the herb with the mortar and pestle.
- If you wish you can put the powder in a capsule or tablet.
CAUTION: Do not use capsules or tablets for more than six months at a time.
A syrup is an herb combined with a form of sugar. Syrups are good for sore throats and coughs.
The herb can be in the form of an infusion, decoction, exprssed juice, or fermented liquor. The sugar should be refined sugar, as it makes a clearer syrup. Honey is also good to use as honey preserves the healing qualities of the herbs. Syrups should be made in small quantites. There are two methods of making syrups. They are both shown here:
Method 1
You will need dried herb, water, honey, and a large pot.
- Put one quart of water and two ounces of dried herbs in the pot. (If you are using fresh leaves, herbs, or roots, you should double this amount.)
- Boil the mixture until the solution is reduced to one pint.
- Add one to two tablespoons of honey.
Method 2
- You will need a tincture, a syrup, and sugar.
- Add the tincture to the syrup.
- Evaporate the alcohol.
- Add sugar and water to make a syrup. (See Method 1.)
Syrups can be stored for up to a month as long as they are refridgerated.
Teas can be used as tonics daily and for genreal health, as long as they are mild. Home-made teas, though, tend to be much stronger and more potent then store-bought teas. They can sometimes be so strong as to be unpleasant. When making teas, use about three teaspoons of herbs for one cup of boiling water.
If you wish to make the tea stronger, use more herbs instead of steeping the herbs for a long time. Do not use an aluminum kettle to boil the water.
- Boil water in a teakettle.
- Pour the boiling water into a mug.
- Steep the herbs for at least five minutes. Do not steep for more than ten minutes as the tea will become bitter.
- Store the tea in an amber-colored jar as light destroys the potency of the herbs. Teas can be kept for a long time.
A tincture is a solution of herbs in alcohol or diluted alcohol. Non-alcoholic tinctures can also be made.To dilute a tincure, add one teaspoon of glycerin (optional) and four ounces of water for every pint of alcohol. To use the tincuture, put twenty drops in tea or warm water four times a day.
Alcoholic Tincture
Method 1
You will need a mortar and pestle of a blender, good-quality vodka, whiskey, or grain alcohol, glycerin, and water.
- Grind plants with the mortar and pestle or blender.
- Add enough alcohol to cover the herbs.
- Let the mixture sit for twenty-one days.
- Add a small amount of glycerin. The ratio of glycerin to the mixture should be about 2 tablespoons of glycerin for every pint of the mixture.
- Add spring water. The amount added should be about ten percent of the herb, alcohol, and glycerin mixture.
- Strain the mixture into another container.
Method 2
This makes a stronger tincture than Method 1. You will need parchment, alcohol, and powdered herb.
- Place the herbs in a cone made of parchment.
- Pass the alcohol through the herbs and parchment, making sure to catch the alcohol in a jar. The more you pass the alcohol through the stronger the tincture will be.
Non-Alcoholic Tincture
- Make an alcoholic tincture.
- Evaporate the alcohol.
- Put twenty drops of the tincture in a cup of water.
- Add one-fourth of a teaspoon of boiling water.
To make a milk tincture:
- Steep the herbs in milk.
- Strain out the herbs.
- Store in the refridgerator.
There are two basic types of waters.
Method 1
- Steep herbs in water.
- Add the herbs to water and alcohol.
Method 2
- Steep herbs in water.
- Add honey and fruits.
Sometimes the spirits of herbs are also called waters.
From:
http://library.thinkquest.org/25411/html/making_remedies.htm
