homemade tinctures

v and i attended a wonderful western herbal medicine making class organized by urban kitchen san francisco, a diy slow-food promoting organization in sf. the class itself was taught by joshua muscat, the director of san francisco botanical medicine clinic, whom you've probably seen at berkeley farmer's market selling his tinctures for amazingly affordable price, and giving you advice about any ailments you may be experiencing.

the class focused on making two tinctures: one dry, and one fresh. we first made dry tinctures, for which the dried herbs (i did yerba mansa root that is good for fungal infections, and v did vervain, great for "chillin'" your overachieving mind...) were finely ground in a powerful blender, put in a jar with 60% EtOH and 40% H2O. these jars will be shaken every day for two weeks, and we'd squeeze out the liquid with the cloth to make tinctures. the fresh herbs (i did cilantro/coriander, which is good to cleanse heavy metals from your system, and v did gobo, a natural diuretic and have blood cleansing properties) were chopped on the cutting board into small bits and were put in the jar in straight alcohol. cilantro was pounded into the alcohol to break the cellulose to induce the chemicals to come out of the cells. you do not need to shake the fresh tinctures, so after two weeks, you can just squeeze out the liquid to make the final tincture.

i hope to incorporate some of these non-allopathic (or osteopathic, for that matter) medical remedies into my clinical practice. herbalism i believe is really powerful, and especially in the context of palliative and preventive care, could be very comforting and spiritually enlightening, which would be an effective treatment for many patients in state of extreme pain and suffering. clearly i have a lot to learn, but i hope to get there some day. we all have to start somewhere.