HERB - Vinegar

[DianaFiona@aol.com]

In a message dated 11/11/98 5:26:05 PM Eastern Standard Time,
mermayde at juno.com writes:

<<  We
 were talking about certain tinctures that needed to be made with apple
 cider vinegar to attain the active ingredients recently. (We being myself
 and my boss at the health food store).  Anybody ever heard of this or
 know which ones and why?  
 
 How's that for a tart topic?
 Christianna
  >>
	Heard of it, yes, know the details, no. A mundane herb list I was on until
recently (HUGE traffic flow!) discussed the tincturing of herbs fairly often
and in some depth. Enough depth to lose me on many occasions! ;-) The basic
idea as I recall it is that certain chemicals will dissolve better in each of
the various liquids used to work with herbs--water, alcohol, vinegar, and
glycerin--with water and alcohol being considered the most effective in
general. Some of the folks would take this to the extreme of preparing
tinctures from different bases--say, perhaps alcohol and glycerin--of a
particular herb, and combining the two to form a more "complete" medicine.
There were a number of professional herbalists on that list, and a lot of
scientific chemistry terms got tossed around casually that went right over my
head. Interesting, though! I had always thought a tincture was just made by
steeping herbs in alcohol, but they were often using a special press to
extract the maximum amount of chemicals from the plants as well. Wow..........
:-)
	That said, I'd suggest looking at some of the more scientific herb books for
info on what is appropriate to use when. Look for ads in Herbs For Health or
Herb Companion, I've seen a number of such books in those magazines. If I can
ever find the time to wade through my huge backlog of messages, I'm sure I've
got more specific info somewhere, and probably a useful website address or
two..........

		Ldy Diana 
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