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Making Liquid Herbal Extracts or Tinctures

Instructions prepared by Suzanne Zick, N, M!H

Extractionis the process of obtaining the constituents of an herb by means of a suitable

solvent. By this process, the indigestible woody fiber (cellulose) and other insoluble

material are left behind, so that only the soluble parts of the whole herb end up in thepreparation. The solvent(s) that are chosen depend on the constituents present in the herb.

The descriptions and directions below apply to when using an alcohol water mixture as

the solvent.

Tincture Strengt" and No#enclature

The proportion of an herb to its solvent is most often recorded as a weight/volume (w/v)

ratio of the tincture where the plant material is lasted first as a weight and the solventsecond as a volume. For example, a (part plant material by weight)!"(solvent by

volume) w/v tincture or a #$% tincture. This nomenclature helps in dosing as a

practitioner or pharmacist &nows how many grams of herb the patient is receiving in any

given volume of tincture. 'n the above example a patient ta&ing #$$ ml of tincture perday would be receiving $ gm euivalent of herbs (less than two teaspoons).

$on%or#ing in principle to t"e standards reco##ended by t"e International

!rotocol adopted at &russels in '()*

. Tinctures of dried *toxic+ botanicals or *intense+ botanicals represent the activity of $

gm of dried herb in each $$ cc of tincture (called a $% or !$ w/v tincture)#. Tinctures of dried nontoxic botanicals represent the activity of #$ gm of dried herb in

each $$ cc of tincture (called a #$% or !" w/v tincture).

-. Tinctures of fresh botanicals represent the activity of "$ gm of dried herb in each $$

cc of tincture (called a "$% or !# w/v tincture).

eter#ining t"e +correct proportions o% alco"ol to -ater in t"e sol.entThe percentage of water and alcohol in a tincture is based on the plant constituents thatare to be extracted. ome plant constituents such as al&aloids and resins are soluble only

in alcohol while other constituents such as plant mucilages are soluble only in water.

0owever, plants often contain a wide variety of constituents of medicinal interestreuiring the presence of both water and alcohol and certain constituents such as

flavonoids are extracted best in some combination of water and alcohol. 1onseuently,

each botanical reuires its own uniue combination of alcohol and water based on the

chemical structures of its medicinally interesting constituents. 2ou can refer to the older3harmacopeias or Formularies such as the British 0erbal 3harmacopoeia more recent

herbal boo&s such as 4edicine from the 5arth. 'n general, a good rule of thumb is to use

as much water as a percentage as possible while still efficiently dissolving all solublematerial.

!reparing a -eig"t/.olu#e 0-/.1 custo# tincture %or a %res" plant

Fresh Plant Part

. First, determine the total amount of solvent you will need to ma&e a !# w/v

tincture. To do this, weigh your total plant material. 4ultiply the weight of the

plant material by two. This will give you the total solvent volume in ml or cc.

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#. econd, if you havent already determined what the proportion of alcohol to water

will be in your tincture. 6 very common proportion and the one ' will use as an

example, is $ % alcohol to 7$ % water. Ta&e the total of amount of solvent youdetermined from step one and multiply it by $. to determine the amount of

alcohol8 needed. 4easure the alcohol out and place it in the container you will be

using to ma&e your tincture.-. Third, either multiply your total amount of solvent by $.7 or subtract out the

amount of alcohol you 9ust calculated from the total volume of solvent needed.

5ither of these methods will give you the total amount of water needed for yourtincture. (:ust change the percentage you multiple the total amount of solvent by

to create difference proportions of alcohol to water such as -$ % water ;total

solvent 8 $.-< and =$% alcohol;total solvent 8 $.=ext, you need to determine the water weight of the fresh plant material. To dothis ta&e a small sample of the plant material and weigh it. Ta&e this same small

sample of the plant material and dry it thoroughly. ?eigh the sample again after

drying. 2ou can then calculate the percent water weight of the plant by

subtracting the weight of the dried sample plant material from the original sampleplant weight and then dividing the remainder by the original plant sample weight.

2ou then multiply this result by $$ to obtain the percent water weight of theplant.

For 5xample! -$ grams @original sample weightA #C grams @sample

weight after dryingA D # grams/-$ grams D $.$7= x $$ D 7.=% waterweight.

". 4ultiply the weight of all of the plant material by the percent water weight and

record the amount. This will give you the number of grams of water in the plant

material. Then convert your grams to ml of water. This is easy as practicallyspea&ing, cc of water weighs gram, and cc of water D ml of water.

7. ubtract the amount of water you have determined is in the fresh plant material

from the total amount of water you calculated was needed for the solvent. Thus, ifyou determined that you need "$ ml of water total and the plan contains #" ml

then you now need #" ml of water for your solvent.

=. 4easure out the water you 9ust calculated in step 7 and add it to the alcohol andwell chopped plant material in the container where you are ma&ing your tincture.

4a&e sure to label this container with all relevant information including date,

tincture strength, proportion of alcohol to water, Eatin binomial of the herb etc

C. tir well one to two times daily for two wee&s and then thoroughly strain thetincture from the woody material into an opaue bottle. Eabel bottle.

Dried Plant Material

Follow steps outlined above eliminating steps through 7. Gn step = use the total

amount of water calculated in step - detailed above.

8 This assumes that you have $$ % ethyl alcohol or #$$ proof