Making Herbal Medicine
On a glorious spring day what better thing to do when one has a moment than to gather Coltsfoot (Tussilago farara)
. Coltsfoot is a powerful anti-tussive and can be gathered, its properties extracted and then used for future use when one is suffering from a cough. It is simple to make either a cough syrup or an extraction in alcohol.
HARVESTING: Choose a nice, sunny day to harvest herbs. Give the sun time to warm the flowers and draw the healing oils from the roots, where they rest during the night, to the petals, where they are best used. Harvesting before 10:00 a.m. is too early; between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. are best. In the springtime I wait until after noontime.
WHAT TO HARVEST IN: Grab a basket from the beams in the kitchen (if that’s where you keep them); tap the winter dust out of it (or any dried herbs that you didn’t use during the winter!) and you are ready to go. Throw on a pair of waterproof boots or footgear because springtime ground can be wet. Got your herb guide with you? Off you go.
You’ll find that Coltsfoot grows in patches. Use your fingers as “rakes” and pick a bunch of flower heads at a time. You can use the stems also. A general rule of thumb is that if the stems are “juicy” they are full of the properties of the plant, too. So, enjoy yourself! Smell the spring air; listen to the spring sounds: the water babbling and gurgling as it tumbles over the rocks, so happy to be out from under that freezing cold ice that’s kept it prisoner all winter! Fill your basket as full as you need it. If you are gathering herbs for a family of four, two cups will be about enough flowers.
Bring them home and wash them twice in your salad spinner or colander to rinse off any road dust or sand.
Put your flowers in a mason jar that has a tight-fitting lid. Cover the flowers with a 25% solution of vodka (use a cheap vodka – this isn’t about the flavor, it’s about the ability to extract and “hold” the properties of the herbs.)
The alcohol content is half of the proof. In other words, if you have 80 proof vodka, you have 40% alcohol. Since we are not a science lab, this is FOLK MEDICINE that has worked for centuries, you do not have to worry about being perfectly exact with your measurements. Your medicine will be quite effective.
Cover your rinsed flowers with 2/3 vodka and the rest of the way with distilled water. That will be about a 25% solution. Put a piece of plastic wrap doubled over for thickness over the top of the jar, then screw the top on tightly. Label it with the contents, the % solution, the day you put it together and then the date that is 3 weeks from the put-together day. Shake your mixture a few times a day. There are differing schools of thought as to whether it should be kept in the sun or the dark, so do whatever seems right to you. It seems to me that if you put it in the sun, the sun will pull the properties out of the herb into the vodka, but there are others who think it should be extracted in the dark. Either way you will have a powerful extract!
In three weeks (you can even use it after two weeks), strain it through a cloth. Be sure you squeeze it really well to get all the properties that are lingering in the petals!
DOSAGE: 30 drops = 1 dropperful = the equivalent of one cup of tea. Take your medicine 3 to 5 times a day. No more than that.
If you’d like to make a syrup, just put 1 Tbs. +/- into 1/2 cup of honey +/- and mix well. Take 1-2 tsp. to alleviate a cough. You will be so happy and heal so quickly with medicine made from God’s Hands to your hands, I guarantee it!
Coltsfoot freshly harvested
Rinse well under running water
Fresh Coltsfoot flowers being poured into colander for rinsing
Rinsed Coltsfoot flowers being put into the jar
Coltsfoot flowers waiting for their bath of vodka & distilled water
Clean them well!
Adding the vodka/distilled water mixture
Label your mixture!
Draining the Coltsfoot after 3 weeks
Coltsfoot Flowers - Pressed well
Finished Coltsfoot Extraction
3 comments
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lisa wardell posted on June 1, 2010:
Is there any other way to make this without using alcohol? Thank you.
mysticalroseherbals posted on June 7, 2010:
You can make it into a tea but it will not last. You could also use vegetable glycerin. That is a bit trickier and does not extract the properties as well. What is the reason you don’t want to use alcohol? Each dose is only a small amount of alcohol, which is entirely infused with the properties of the herb. The dose can be put into juice or other liquid and the body feels little or no affects of alcohol.
Scotty posted on July 24, 2010:
To Lisa Wardell:
If you make very hot tea, and add in a dropperful of the medicine when it is still steaming hot, the alcohol will evaporate off, leaving only the herbs. I knew a woman who did this when giving medicine to her small children, whom she didn’t feel comfortable just giving a spoonful of alcohol based medicine, even if it wasn’t very much/strong.