Herbal Formulas for Fresh Herb Tinctures

This may be a bit complicated for some folks, but for a medicine maker that wishes to use herbal formulas for fresh herb tinctures that make sense, this is groundbreaking.

The traditional method for making fresh herb tinctures is 1:2 (weight in grams to volume in milliliters) using 90% alcohol. For a considerable number of herbs this will be too high an alcohol percentage:

We wild harvested yellow dock root and weighed some of it. 124 grams. We then sliced it and let it dry. The dry weight was 54 grams. So the water in the fresh root was 70 grams.

standard fresh herb protocol: 1:2 90% 124 grams x 2 = 248 ml menstruum @ 90%

In this example, yellow dock is 56% water, which would be 70 grams (70 ml) water in the fresh root.

248 ml (90%) + 70 ml water (0%) = 318 ml (X)

22320 = 318 X

X = 22320/318

X = 70% (25% too high)

actual weight:volume 50 grams:318 ml

318/50 or 1:6.36

So, the weight to volume is approximately correct, but the menstruum strength is 25% too high.

To actually compensate for the 56% water in fresh yellow dock root:

124 grams fresh yellow dock root yielded 54 grams dried yellow dock root (56% water)

124 grams fresh herb -54 grams dry herb = 70 grams water (equals 70 ml water)

1:5 54 grams x 5 = 270 ml menstruum

of that 270 ml, 70 ml will be water in the root

270 ml -70 ml = 200 ml added menstruum at a dilution (X%) that yields 45% when mixed with 70 ml water in the herb

200 ml (X%) + 70 ml (0%) = 270 ml (45%)

200 X = 11250

X = 11250/200

X = 56%

Assuming we’re using 95% alcohol for our tincture:

56/95 x 200 = 118 ml (95%) alcohol

200 ml – 118 ml = 82 ml water

To summarize: 118 ml (95%) alcohol, 82 ml water, and 124 g fresh yellow dock root would yield the equivalent of a 1:5 45% (the standard for dry yellow dock).