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Herbal Vinegars

 Herbal vinegars are a wonderful versatile herbal preparation that can be taken by itself, used for salad dressings, marinades, made into herbal drinks, or for your skin! 

What you will need-

 Raw apple cider vinegar.  I have read that you can use other types of vinegar for infusing, but apple cider is really the best way to go, it is very alkalizing to the body as well as full of healthy enzymes. 

Herbs of choice, (depending on what you are aiming for) You can use fresh or dried herbs, fruits and berries when making vinegars. 

What you can infuse

Thyme 

Sage 

Rosemary 

Lavender 

Roses 

Garlic 

Cayenne

Strawberries 

Blueberries 

And more…! 

Glass jar and lid, the lid must either be plastic, cork. If you use a mason jar with a metal lid you need to wrap the lid in waxed paper, if the vinegar touches the metal it will rust, and eat though it. 

Proportions

 The amount of herbs or fruit that you use depends on whether or not it is fresh. if you are using fresh herbs you will need to use more, since they are not so concentrated.

When using fresh- Fill 3/4 of the jar with herbs or fruit and fill the jar at least two inches above with apple cider vinegar 

When using dried- Fill 1/4 of the jar with herbs or fruit and fill the jar at least two inches above with apple cider vinegar. 

This is just a general idea of what you would do for proportions, play around with it, as long as the herbs are completely covered you are free to do what you want!

You can also mix fresh with dried if you would like. Just make sure to strain it out after 4 weeks.

After making your vinegar, store in a cool dark place for 2-4 weeks. (remember the longer it sits the stronger it gets! 

After steeping it

 if you used fresh herbs, you will need to strain it out after 4 weeks. If your vinegar is made only with dried 

herbs, it can be left in the jar for the duration of the vinegar use. 

Storage 

When vinegars are done being infused and strained store in refrigerator. Vinegar should be good for up to a  year. If it starts to turn black, gets floating chunks,  or develops mold or a funny smell throw it away. 

Fire Cider 

One of my favorite things to do is pour Fire cider over roasted chicken! YUM! 

So-Called Mild Fire Cider

1/8 cup grated organic garlic

1/4 cup grated organic horseradish 

1/4 cup chopped organic onion

1/4 cup grated fresh ginger

2 Ginseng roots, dried

1/4 tsp.  cayenne pepper

organic apple cider vinegar

Honey

4 cup jar with plastic lid (you do not want to use metal lids with vinegar)

Spicier Fire Cider 

1/2 cup organic grated garlic

1/2 cup organic grated horseradish

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup grated fresh ginger

1/2 tsp. cayenne 

organic apple cider vinegar

honey 

4 cup jar with plastic lid (you do not want to use metal lids with vinegar)

Chop horseradish, garlic, onion, and ginger. Place them and cayenne in a quart jar, fill with apple cider vinegar. Cover with lid and shake well. Let it sit at room temperature for 4-6 weeks. Strain and add honey to taste. Store in a cool place. Your fire cider will keep for several months

Tinctures 

 Growing up my mom used tinctures for my siblings and I when we where sick, a few drops in some herbal tea and we where never able to detect the flavor. Over the year tinctures have become a staple in our family cabinet, we have all kinds of tinctures form ones for colds, relaxing, digesting, heart healing, energy, dreaming, menstrual cramps, overall healing and more! Tinctures are very fun to make and easy to take! 

Tinctures: Tinctures are a concentrated liquid extracts made from fresh or dried herbs.   They are very potent.   Because they are so concentrated, they should be administered carefully and sparingly.  

Most tinctures are made with alcohol as the primary solvent.   Effective tinctures can also be made with apple cider vinegar and vegetable glycerin but will not be as strong as the alcohol-based tinctures.   If you are using vegetable glycerin please keep in mind that most vegetable glycerin is made from soy.   I am against using soy for a variety of reasons so I do not recommend vegetable glycerin.  If you are interested in using it please make sure your source is 100% certified organic, otherwise you will be using GMO vegetable glycerin and that is not healing for your body.   

Alcohol Tincture: You will need 80 to 100 proof, such as vodka (I like Finlinda Vodka), gin, or brandy.  Half of the proof number is the percentage of alcohol in the spirits, 80 proof brand is 40 percent alcohol, 100 proof vodka is 50 percent alcohol.  

Tinctures when alcohol based are a fast moving medicine, alcohol and alcohol based tinctures diffuse directly through the tissues and into the the bloodstream, making tinctures  great when you need a fast past remedy. 

Vinegar, tho not as strong at pulling out the medicinal properties of the herbs, is  still a great way to make tinctures for young children or for someone who is alcohol sensitive. Not only is it non alcoholic, vinegar has great health benefits! 

Traditional or Simpler's Method.  

I prefer using the traditional way.  I am old fashion and I believe that this method works beautifully.  It has for years..  

Fresh Flowers and Leaf:  Chop herbs finely and place 2/3 o 3/4 in a clean jar dry jar.  

Pour alcohol over the herbs, fill to the top.  Cover herbs completely. 

Label and date

Shake daily, give it some Love

Dried Leaves and Flowers

Finely cut herbs, you can also grind them up a bit in a coffee grinder

Fill jar 1/2 with herb material

Pour alcohol over the herbs, fill to the top.  Cover completely. 

Label and date

Shake daily, give it some Love

Fresh Bark, Roots and Berries:

Finely chop or grind fresh herbs.  This helps release the juice and expose the surface area.   

Fill jar 1/3 to 1/2

Pour alcohol over the herbs, fill to the top.  Cover herbs completely.  

Shake daily, give it some Love

Dried Bark, Roots and Berries

Finely cut herbal material, you can also grind them up a bit in a coffee grinder

Fill jar with 1/4 to 1/3 

Pour alcohol over the herbs, fill to the top.  Cover completely 

Keep in mind roots and berries will expand 1/2 their size.  

Label and date

Shake daily, give it some love

Remember to pour enough menstruum (alcohol, vinegar, wine or vegetable glycerin) to cover the herbs.  Liquid should rise 2 to 3 inches above the herbs.   Herbs should move freely when you shake the jar.  cover with a tight-fitting lid. 

If you are using vinegar, warm it first, then pour over the herbs.

Vegetable glycerin mix 3 parts vegetable glycerin to 1 part distilled water. Mix well then pour over the herbs

Place the jar in a warm location, like a kitchen counter.  Avoid sunlight exposure.  After a few days if you notice the herbs are not covered all the way be sure to top off with more alcohol.

Let sit for 6 to 8 weeks. Side Note:  In the event of an emergency you can use it sooner.   

To Strain You Will Need;

Strainer, unbleached cheese cloth, 2 cup or 4 cup measuring cup, labels and bottles.

Place strainer over measuring cup, put cheese cloth over strainer.  Pour contents of tincture into strainer.   Squeeze, squeeze and squeeze.  Twist and squish.   Get all of the wonderful healing properties out.  

Pour into tincture bottles and label.   

Dosages Adult

Tinctures dosages do vary, you might want to start with less and adjust as needed. 

Acute:  1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon every 30 to 60 minutes until symptoms subside  OR 2 dropperfuls every 2 to 3 hours for 1 to 2 days and then taper down 

Chronic:  1/2 to 1 teaspoon  three times daily OR 2 dropperfulls 3 times per day for 8 to 12 weeks.  

You can put them in tea, water, juice, ice cubes, smoothies Popsicle ect. 

 Spiced Wine

Wines are one traditional way of preserving and taking herbal remedies.   Spring and Summer try white wines infused with flower petals, and leaves (fresh or dried).  You can also add seasonal organic fruit.  

For fall and winter try hearty red wines with roots, spices, bark and dried fruit.

1/2 cup herbs 

A liter of wine

Honey or maple syrup (optional)

Steep in refrigerator for two weeks, strain and label.  

Damiana Spiced Wine

1 cup dried damiana leaves

1/2 cup spearmint leaves

1/2 cup dried fragrant roses

1 Tbl. licorice root

1 Tbl. cinnamon chips

1 Tbl. whole cloves

1 Tbl.   ginger root 

1/8 tsp cardamom seeds

Mix herbs, store in a jar and label.  You can also use this mix as a tea.  1 tsp per cup.  

For the spiced wine, take 1/2 cup of the damiana spice herbal blend and add it to a liter of organic  white or red wine.  Let steep in refrigerator for two weeks.  

Strain and enjoy!

Potions:

Love Potion: 

1 quart organic red wine

1 tsp vanilla rose extract

1Tbl. Damiana tincture

1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

2 Tbl. Rose water

1 tsp. ginseng tincture

pinch of cardamom powder

2 Tbl. local honey 

Combine all the ingredients.  Let sit for a week. 

Enjoy! 

Kloss’s Liniment.

Over the years this has become a very popular liniment in the herbal world. Great to keep in the medicine cabinet of your herbal first aid kit.

Recipe 

2 ounces myrrh gum powder 

1 once goldenseal powder 

1/2 once cayenne 

Pour herbs into a quart jar and cover with hard alcohol (like everclear) (You will see that most Kloss’s liniment recipes call for rubbing alcohol, but since it is petroleum based I would suggest not using it) after adding the alcohol label and store in a cool dark place for 2-4 weeks (the longer it sits the stronger it gets!) shaking the jar everyday. Once finished use as needed for wounds, bruises sprains, scalds, burns and sunburns beestings and poison oak.

Infusing honey, is a sweet and fun way to use herbs, you can infuse roots, flowers, leaves, berries, dried fruit and all kinds of fun spices! 

I personally love to infuse fresh flowers in to honey, lilacs are one of my favorite flowers and since they have such a short blooming time, it is wonderful to be able to infuse some in some honey to preserve that deliciousness! 

What you will need to get infusing! 

Honey

Honey is such a wonderful medicine just by itself, it is a powerful antibacterial, having the ability to dry out bacteria. Taken internally it can help you with seasonal allergies,  give energy, and can be used as a cough remedy. Used topically for wounds burns cold sores, ulcers, makes a great face mask that is good for your skin and also a great for rubbing around your sinuses when the are clogged, and overall its just a sweet tasty treat! When you make infused honey with medicinal herbs the honey helps with deliver the medicinal properties deeper in the body.

Make sure to get pure raw honey when possible. 

Herbs

You can use many different herbs when making herbal honey, all that it depends on is what you are wanting to make your honey for, do you want to make an easy cold remedy for chest congestion? Or how about infusing some of those precious springtime hawthorn flowers to sooth your heart?

 You can use both fresh and dried herbs and powdered and whole.

When using fresh make sure they are completely dry! Powdering the herbs first means you will not have to strain you honey (this is a good idea when giving infused honey as gifts) Also when you use powder herbs it will be a little stronger of a taste. 

 I think its also great to make a honey with whole herbs to see the difference between using powdered and whole, and to see what it is like to strain the honey. 

When using fresh herbs, after it has infused for 1-2 weeks, strain and store in fridge. Use up within 3 weeks.

A few herbs to try infusing

Lavender

Roses 

Hawthorne flower

Lilacs

Ginger 

Elecampane 

Cottonwood Buds 

Thyme

Cinnamon 

Turmeric 

Garlic

This is just a short list of what you can use, you can make all kinds of blends and mixes to infuse! 

A book I suggest for finding some delicious recipes is called The Herbal Kitchen by Kami McBRIDE

You may also used dried fruit to infuse into your honey 

The fruit has to be dried and chopped first. 

You can use the flowing fruits to add to you honey.

Cherries 

Pears

Apricots 

Peaches

Figs

…and more!

Proportions 

1/4-1/2 cup dreid herbs to 1 cup honey

1/2-3/4 cup dried fruit to 1 cup honey 

Put herb into jar and cover with honey, let set for two weeks then enjoy! 

Elecampane Honey 

You can use fresh or dried roots for this recipe

1/4 cup dried or 1/2 cup fresh elecampane root

cover with 1 cup raw honey ( you may need a little more if using fresh herbs)