"Which" of Tincturing

Common Use Herbal Tinctures 

Each herb in the Eastern treasure chest has certain properties and specialties. These are all phrased in ways completely foreign to our Western way of evaluating what a medicine does. I'll try here to 'translate" and talk about the special affinity that each of these herbs has for specific body/channel regions and conditions.  The explanations must be general by definition as there is a body of knowledge behind the proper use that is difficult to share in a short, sound byte setting...


Honeysuckle flower in a tincture-
Jin Yin Hua-
This is to reduce fever or 'heat' in the body. That means when you get a new cold/flu with fever greater than chills. There is a special affinity with the throat, breasts and stomach, so 'bugs' that involve these areas will be especially successful with the addition of honeysuckle tincture to a mint tea.
If the cold/flu has chills greater than fever and is a new onset, please avoid both mint tea and Jin Yin Hua. Instead boil chunks of fresh ginger and fresh green onion in filtered water for about twenty minutes, have a nice cup of this warm beverage (add raw honey if you need sweetening) and snuggle down for a warm blanket nap.
Jin Yin Hua can also be used for sores and abscesses. Whenever there is infection in the body, this can be useful in helping your body to fight hot and pus-based problems.

Honeysuckle vine in a tincture-
Ren Dong Teng
Ren Dong Teng has many of the same actions as its flower, Jin Yin Hua, but is less effective at clearing infection.
However, it has an additional property that allows it to help clear away pain when there is swelling or 'blockage' in the channels which means it is good to relieve the pain of hot, swollen joints and painful muscles with heat.
As with Jin Yin Hua, this is best added to a hot mint tea to 'burn off' the alcohol of the tincture.

Dandelion Leaves in a tincture-
Pu Gong Ying
Used both internally and externally as a pultice, Pu Gong Ying works on deep set infections. It has a special affinity for the Liver channel which encompasses the reproductive regions, including and especially the breasts. Deep 'zits' would benefit from the use of Pu Gong Ying. 
Used in conjuction with Jin Yin Hua, it is a go-to first line antibiotic when dealing with hot sore throats and flu, stomach pain, and liver channel pain.
Pu Gong Ying also moves qi so there is a special effect of helping sores heal quickly and cleanly as an external applicant.

Olive Leaf Extract-
Not in the Oriental Medicine Cabinet
My personal experience with this herb was the successful treatment of an eighth stage parasite. Most of the Homeopathic sources do not claim Olive Leaf to be anti-parasitic, but it is used clinically in this manner. It is my preferred use for this extract.

Olive leaf has shown promise in the research  for treating various ailments, both pre- and post-onset, including:
Lowering blood pressure and relaxing blood vessel tension
Decreasing blood sugar level in diabetic and pre-diabetic patients
Anti-cancer properties
Neuro-protective properties for both chronic (Dementia and Parkinsons) and acute compromises, including the reduction of stroke symptoms when administered pre-event. (Scary animal research, but interesting outcome)
Reduction in various types of arthritis, both pre- and post-onset

***Warning- please do not mix Olive leaf with any pharmaceutical products for treating high blood pressure, the effect can be cumulative, causing excessively low blood pressure.

"When" of tincturing

Dear Tincture Users,

This is a complex question and to answer it in my life daily I lean on hours and hours of study and research in the classroom, at the computer and in wonderful ancient texts. So I have to start with the disclaimer that this is not medical advice and you should do your own thoughtful research when making decisions for your family.

Understanding illness from an  Eastern Perspective...explains alot!

Take a diagnosis, any diagnosis...say, "headache" and what does it really tell you?? It is like an engine light saying "something is wrong". Our bodies are incredibly complex and multi-layered machines and pain is our friend if we are tuned in to our bodies. Without pain we wouldn't know when we have stepped on glass, burnt our hands or used a knife without accuracy! So, when our internal mechanisms go wrong and our pain 'lights' go off, why do we think that the 'engine light' is the problem and not the indicator??

Looking at symptoms as indicator lights rather than as diagnoses is the first step in true self-care.

So, you have a headache, what now??

Time for some diagnostics...

First, look at common indicators- Have you been drinking enough clean, room-temperature filtered water? Have you eaten whole healthy foods recently? Have you had any processed foods recently?? If your body is undernourished, your head will hurt. If you body is undernourished but overfed (result of eating processed food) it will hurt more. Are you sleep deprived?? Are you fighting other symptoms besides just the headache??

Take a quiet moment and just tune into your body. Breathe deeply, relax and FEEL. Your body is SMART! It knows what it needs to be healthy and it is very much interested in feeling good. Empower it!

Eastern questions would include a couple of yes/no indicators?

So, for the sake of our tinctures, let's get on to some common things we can treat at home to help our bodies fight 'evil invaders'.  (What!) In ancient days

Tincture magic

I'm not sure if I should blame my sweet friend in Rocklin or Amsterdam for this post, but here goes!

My hubby just got back from an eight day international trade show in Amsterdam. He wore himself out and came back SICK! He asked immediately for some "magic tea" to help him feel better. Immediately I went shopping for some of my basics that I usually make at home, but don't have here with me and was surprised to see a smallish bottle of Dandelion Tincture for 22 canadian dollars! Whoa... that is sticker shock! After making my own since the beginning of my love affair with tinctures, I am thrilled with how much money I have saved!

My friend "Ophelia Jane" called and wanted to understand more about the tinctures we started before I left America and the moment came for me to sit down and write! Forgive if I ramble!

What is a Tincture?


You have been using tinctures your whole life and didn't even know it... Vanilla Extract is the tincture that is sitting in your cupboard right now. The tincturing process removes the taste and medicinal action of a food or herb and preserves it in alcohol. This preservation process keeps the medicine good on your shelf, if pure, for up to ten years or more.  But, of course, it is preserved in alcohol to make this happen, so we have a myriad of ways of dealing with the alcohol and as many personal beliefs about whether or not that alcohol is a big deal.  I'll try to address some of these methods below.

Shelf Life

Once properly tinctured and bottled, the medicine should be put in dropper bottles, preferably darkened as in these cobalt blue dropper bottles, and stored in a cool, dark cupboard. Avoid keeping these near ovens or other heat sources to help maintain quality.

Once the alcohol is removed, the medicine will deteriorate quickly, so is only used for the short term.

How to Use

So before we talk about WHEN to use these tinctures, let's walk through the "how".  Mark needed some magic tea, and of course I used some dried herbs that fit his particular need, like spearmint for instance, but I also knew that he needed an antibiotic effect. For his sore throat a dandelion and honeysuckle combination would be the perfect combination...in Montreal in September. Of course there were no fresh greens to throw in a salad, so I needed to go to stored medicine. Food is always preferable when it is available and appropriate:)

So, step-by-step...
1. I boiled the water. (This electric kettle is one of our favorite finds from when we lived overseas...a household treasure!) But however you do it, boil some water for a tea.

2. Pour the boiling water and a dropper full of tincture into the same hot chocolate mug and add any other ingredients that you feel work well for your child, whether that is a comfort beverage like ovaltine or an herb tea that is a favorite, add it now!

3. Wait five minutes.

Some people object to alcohol use for their families for religious reasons and some object for health reasons. I had a professor who objected because her body didn't tolerate alcohol well at all. She indicates that she was able to tolerate tinctures using this method because the alcohol dissipates during the resting period with the boiling water while the medicinal value is left behind.

There are plenty of conflicted reports about how much alcohol is left behind, so I have to turn to common sense here...We are talking about a couple of dropper-fulls, and we never worry about the similar or higher alcohol content of Vanilla Extract in our cooking. We swish industrial age mouthwash around in our mouths with lots of alcohol and the additional tragedy of harmful chemicals. I just can't get too upset about a little alcohol byproduct when people are routinely ingesting chemical chaos in our soda based society.


Drink! Voila! Simple...