{"id":4578,"date":"2019-09-27T15:13:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T15:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/?p=4578"},"modified":"2025-01-09T13:43:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T13:43:49","slug":"decoctiondoubleextractiontincture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/2019\/09\/27\/decoctiondoubleextractiontincture\/","title":{"rendered":"Decoction (Double Extraction) Tincture Method"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you\u2019ve already dabbled in making your own medicinal herbal remedies, chances are you\u2019ve already entered the world of tinctures. These liquid herbal extracts rely on alcohol to pull key constituents from plants. Those little dropper bottles of herbs you see in the natural food store are tinctures. Alcohol does an excellent job extracting most plant constituents. Tinctures are easy to take, keep for years, and act quickly because they absorb rapidly into the bloodstream, bypassing digestion. That said, alcohol is not<\/em> the best solvent for a few categories of plant constituents \u2013 mucilage, polysaccharides, and minerals in particular<\/strong>. One way to cheat the science it to make a decoction tincture.<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s review the process for a typical<\/em> tincture<\/strong>. Basically, you put plant material into a jar, cover it with alcohol, shake it periodically, and then strain it out after a month. (Yes, it\u2019s really that easy!) With fresh plant material, you use more plant material and higher-proof alcohol: 1 ounce of herb (weight) per 2 ounces of alcohol (volume), preferably 190-proof, but 151-, 100-, and even 80-proof grain alcohol, vodka, or brandy will do in a pinch. If your plant material is dry, you can use 1 ounce of herb to 5 ounces of alcohol. For most dry plants, use 100- or 80-proof vodka rather than high proof. Some plants are best tinctured fresh (St. John\u2019s wort, lemon balm, motherwort, milky oat seed, and skullcap lose potency dry), and a handful are best dry (cherry bark, elderberries, and alder bark can be nauseating or moderately toxic fresh). But for a general rule of thumb, opt for fresh plant if you have it available, dried if you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Why (and When to) Decoct?<\/h3>\n

A decoction tincture combines the basic tincture technique with that of a decocted (simmered) tea. In water extracts, we rely on decoction to pull constituents tough parts of plants: root, bark, and seeds. To make a decoction, simply simmer in water for a minimum of 20 minutes, though some decoctions could go for hours or even days. (Think outside the teapot: soup broth is also a decoction.) In contrast, an infusion is made when you steep a tea; this is preferred for most flowers and leaves, particularly aromatic plants that give up the ghost too quickly if you simmer them (all those aromatics end up in the air, not your tea). Herbs that are best infused are not<\/em> good candidates for decoction tinctures – stick to your regular tincture methods.<\/p>\n

Decoction \u2013 or simmering – \u00a0also excels at extracting minerals from plants (you won\u2019t get much from a typical infusion, and probably not at all with a standard alcohol extract) as well as complex starches called polysaccharides from mushrooms (where they\u2019re bound up in hard fibrous chitin, inaccessible to the body via most methods). You can also use decoction tinctures for mucilaginous herbs. Mucilage is best extracted in water and hates<\/em> alcohol.<\/p>\n

Plant Constituents that Benefit from Decoction Tincture Extraction<\/h3>\n

Mucilage<\/strong><\/h4>\n

As mentioned, slippery, slimy mucilage extracts best in water and actually repels alcohol. Repels alcohol? A friend once showed me a comfrey root tincture she made in 95% alcohol. (Before you ask, comfrey is not<\/em><\/span> an herb *I* use internally<\/em> ever<\/em><\/span> as a tincture due to liver toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which extract dangerously well in alcohol and are even more prevalent in the root than the leaf.) In an effort to escape the alcohol, every spec of chopped root had pressed itself into a tight ball suspended in the middle of the jar. Mucilage is soothing and promotes the healing of irritated or damaged tissues \u2013 often used for healing the gut (ulcers, reflux, gastritis, leaky gut) and the skin. Examples of high-mucilage herbs include marshmallow (especially the root), comfrey leaf or root, and slippery elm bark. Normally if I want a client to get marshmallow or slippery elm, I\u2019ll give it in tea or a powder mixed into slimy food like oatmeal. In cough remedies, the syrup is quite nice, though its shelf life is short. But you can use low-alcohol extracts to give some slip, slime, and soothe to cough formulas, sore throat syrups, digestive formulas, and the like. And while I never use comfrey internally due to potential liver toxicity, I do make comfrey root tincture for topical<\/em> formulas like liniments or as an ingredient in cream. This is doubly nice because simmering comfrey not only extracts mucilage but also is the best way to extract the super-fast wound healing constituent called allantoin. (Many herbalists make comfrey oil, too \u2013 and I do \u2013 but allantoin is not particularly oil-soluble.) That poor comfrey root bathed in high-proof alcohol? We poured out most of the alcohol and replaced it with water. You could hear it breathe a sigh of relief as it relaxed and spread back out throughout the jar.<\/p>\n

Polysaccharides<\/strong><\/h4>\n

These complex starches modulate immune function \u2013 strengthening it where it is weak, down-regulating it where it\u2019s overactive, for example in allergies and autoimmune disease. Polysaccharides extract best in simmering water, and too much alcohol can actually destroy these constituents. It\u2019s especially important to simmer mushrooms (all of which are rich in these constituents) because their polysaccharides are bound up in chitin, a super-tough fiber also found in shellfish shells. You need a lot<\/em> of simmer time to break those bonds, preferably at least several hours \u2013 even days or weeks. A crock pot works well for this. Just keep adding more water as it evaporates to keep everything submerged. Some mushroom fans argue that any<\/em> amount of alcohol is undesirable, but unfortunately it\u2019s hard to get something shelf stable without it. (This is a hot debate in the mushroom world right now!) Double-extraction mushrooms are particularly popular for reishi and chaga because they contain other constituents called terpenes \u2013 which extract best in alcohol \u2013 that give them antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Astragalus is also notably polysaccharide-rich and a good candidate for a double-extraction, though it doesn\u2019t have the chitin issues that mushrooms have and is much more flexible about extraction methods and simmer times.<\/p>\n

Minerals<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Think of minerals as rocks embedded in the matrix of your plant material. They\u2019re notoriously difficult to extract. You can eat the plants or consume them in a powder, at which point it\u2019s up to your digestive prowess to pull minerals out (cooked and previously frozen plants release minerals more readily). As far as medicine-making techniques go, decoctions are the other best way to pull minerals from plants. Sure, a super-infusion works well (this is when you steep a full ounce of herbs in a quart container for four hours, then strain it out), but a decoction ups the game. Simmering herbs for at least 20-40 minutes does an excellent job pulling those minerals out into an easy-to-assimilate liquid form. Alcohol does not extract minerals, but it helps preserve your decoction and extracts other beneficial properties from the plant, such as dandelion\u2019s liver detoxification support and yellow dock\u2019s ability to release iron from storage via the liver. Decoction tinctures are particularly popular for yellow dock, but you can also use them for other high-mineral herbs like dandelion, nettle, oat straw, and horsetail. The more highly concentrated your tea, the better. Spoonful dosages are preferred over dropper squirts, and you can also mix in blackstrap molasses for additional mineral content as well as sweetness. I don’t typically<\/em> use tinctures as a way to administer mineral-rich herbs, but if you really wanted to, a decoction tincture would be one answer (the other would be a spagyric tincture method<\/a>).<\/p>\n

What Else Could<\/em> You Double-Extract?<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re feeling up for it, you could certainly double-extract any<\/em> herb that does well simmered for tea: most roots and spices. Examples include ashwagandha, ginseng, cinnamon, ginger, and Oregon grape root. These herbs do fine with your standard tincture-making techniques (unlike the previous herbs mentioned that are best<\/em> via double extraction), but they will also do well via double-extraction if you feel like putting in some extra steps.<\/p>\n

The Method<\/h3>\n

You can combine decoction and tincture in one of three different ways:<\/p>\n

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  1. Simmer herbs to decoct them first, then put your decoction and dregs in a jar with alcohol and tincture.<\/li>\n
  2. Tincture your herb first, strain it, then make the decoction with the strained herb, combining the finished decoction and tinctures at the end.<\/li>\n
  3. Make a separate tincture and decoction (with different batches of plant material), then combine them once they\u2019re both done. If you do this, you\u2019ll want to wait to do the decoction until your tincture is ready to press since tea doesn\u2019t keep more than a day or two without the addition of alcohol.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I\u2019m going to describe the process using the first method, which is how I make decoction tinctures. It may sound complicated, but it\u2019s pretty easy. The hardest part is the math, ensuring that you have enough alcohol to preserve it in your finished product… and for that, you can refer to my chart. Step-by-step photo can be found in my book Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    1. 2 ounces dried plant or mushroom material<\/li>\n
    2. About 6 ounces of water (or more, if you plan to condense your \u201ctea\u201d)<\/li>\n
    3. 5 ounces of 100-proof vodka<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Process:<\/strong><\/p>\n