Making your own mother tinctures

Inspired by an exchange with Véronique Bourbeau, naturopath, here is a short guide to making your own mother tinctures.

When picking the chosen medicinal plants, we follow the plant's cycles. If we want to pick the leaves, it will be in spring, if it is the flower, we wait until mid-season around Saint-Jean-Baptiste when the flowering is most intense and if it is the roots, we wait a little later in autumn... The plant must have undergone a first frost so that all the energy is concentrated in the root.

It is called a tincture when made with plants and mother tinctures when it is for homeopathic purposes.

Traditionally, the desired part (the leaves, the flower or the stem) is harvested and then placed in a glass jar which is filled to the brim (you know there are enough plants when, by weighing on top, the density is such that there is no more space left).

Then it remains to determine the degree of alcohol required for the chosen plant (many books or references on the web allow us to identify the degree of alcohol required according to the different plants.). The alcohol that will be used can be the one that we buy at the SAQ or grain alcohol. If we do not like the taste of alcohol, we can use glycerin or apple cider vinegar instead.

Then we fill this jar with alcohol, until it is about to overflow. Then we put the lid on and stir a little.

Leave to macerate for 4 to 6 weeks away from light. Be careful! Three days after starting the maceration process, you will notice that a small amount of alcohol has evaporated (we call it the angel's share, so pretty!), you will then need to add more alcohol to the brim and continue the process.

Once the waiting time is over, place a cheesecloth over a large container (for example, a large measuring cup) and pour in the lemon balm and alcohol mixture. Then squeeze the cheesecloth to collect as much liquid as possible. Finally, transfer the tincture into the small jar. Voila! The tincture is ready to use. But how do you consume it? You can use it in your recipes or add it to your salad dressings, for example.

For the exercise, we used fresh lemon balm leaves (we could use dried leaves if we want to obtain a tincture with a precise dosage of alcohol), a plant that bridges the gap between the nervous system and the digestive system. It is a so-called carminative plant that reduces putrefaction, fermentation, gas, supports the digestive system... Knowing that the Quebec population bloats happily, because you often ask me what to do when it happens, Véronique suggests stopping the consumption of cereals... that we can only bloat on sugars (starch)... and to consume lemon balm ; )

The essential oils and rosmarinic acid contained in lemon balm will give this tincture an antiviral effect... Especially anti-herpes (anti-shingles). Therefore, it can be used internally and externally.

If you have any questions on the subject, you can write to her at the following address: veroniquebourbeau@yahoo.ca .