Last month we talked about the pros and cons of using herbal remedies. It’s always possible to buy herbal products from natural food stores or online, but there are a few benefits to making your own preparations. One of these is cost. While teas are generally fairly inexpensive, you can save a ton of money by making your own tinctures and salves rather than plopping down the cash to buy it at a substantial markup. Making your own remedies means you can get exactly what you need, even if it’s out of stock or unavailable elsewhere, and you will know whether a plant is fresh if you grew or harvested it yourself. Plus, it’s fun. (Warnings about accidentally using toxic plants you’ve misidentified or ones that are contaminated do, of course, apply.)

Even if you do purchase dry herbs, you can always prepare them yourself. Just make sure to buy herbs that are organic or are wildly grown, are colorful (they should be similar to the same color as they are fresh), and have a strong scent and fresh flavor.

How to safely harvest herbs—and where to go in your specific bioregion—is beyond the scope of this series. In general, you’ll want to do due diligence to make sure that the soil quality is good, there’s no pollution that could contaminate your plant, and that there’s enough of an abundance that you’re not doing environmental harm by harvesting. And, of course, many plants have dangerous lookalikes, so correct identification is obviously very important. But assuming you’ve gotten your hands on the right plants, here are some instructions for drying herbs, and some basic preparations. We’ll start with preparations that are water-based, followed by oil-based preparations, and ending with alcohol-based ones.

Drying Herbs

Unless you’re making a fresh plant tincture, you’ll need to dry your herbs to stop them from molding. I usually just put them in a dry, warm place, sometimes even in a paper bag, but I live in the desert. The best way to dry is to spread your plants on a newspaper or a tray and let them dry in a drying room that you keep at 70 to 90 degrees, or a large cupboard with an open door. Sometimes you can gather small bunches of plants and hang them upside down to dry or try them on their stem in a bag or over a tray.

Roots are different—you’ll typically want to chop ‘em up into small pieces after washing the soil and dirt off, because it’s really hard to cut through dried roots. And if you’re using bark, you typically have to peel it off of the branch before it dries as well.

Herbal Teas

Drinking a tea is probably the easiest way to use an herb medicinally, assuming you pick ones with good flavors!

There are two basic ways to make teas:

Standard Infusion. A standard infusion is a way to make tea out of leaves and flowers. You’ll want it to be almost, but not quite boiling (or let it cool a little after it boils) so that the volatile oils aren’t dispersed in the steam. But basically, making a standard infusion is just like making loose leaf tea. Just boil some water, put your plant matter in a pot or mason jar with a tight fitting lid, pour the water over the herb, and let it steep. You can use an ounce of herb for a quart of water, but if you want to start with a smaller amount, you can use one cup of water and one tablespoon of herb. I’d let it steep for at least ten minutes, and then strain it through some cheesecloth or muslin or even a small sieve or strainer.

Decoction. A decoction is used for roots, bark, seeds, and other parts of the plant that need a slow simmer. You put the herbs in your pot, cover with cold water, and simmer them for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. You’ll generally be able to get a feel for when the plant is ready. (Hint: your water shouldn’t be clear). Then, using your cheesecloth or muslin or strainer or sieve, strain out the herb into a teacup or mason jar or pitcher. You can store any tea you’re not drinking right away in a cool place and drink hot or cold.

Herbal baths

If you’re looking for a topical preparation, you can use a tea in your bath by either adding a gallon of the tea to bath water, or putting three or four ounces of herb in a stocking or scarf and tying it to the nozzle of the tub while the water fills until the tub is half-full, then tossing it into the bath.

Washes, Poultices, and Compresses

Another topical preparation is a skin wash, which is usually a cooled infusion soaked in a cotton pad, or sprayed on with a bottle. Compresses are cloth pads dipped in hot infusions and held against an affected area—you just need a bowl for your infusion. And poultices are applications of the entire plant, usually a bruised fresh leaf or a boiled herb, or a powder made into a decoction or a paste and applied with some kind of gauze strip. (Tea bags make good poultices, too, after they’ve steeped for a half hour or so.)

Steam inhalants

You can make a steam inhalant by putting a couple of tablespoons of your dried herb in a bowl, pouring boiling water over it, and then leaning over the bowl, with a towel draped over everything, inhaling for as long as you can stand, or until the water gets cold.

Herbal Oils

Herbal oils are incredibly easy to make. You’re basically using oil (I use organic extra virgin olive oil) to extract the active plant ingredients.

The method I’ve always used to make oil is called a solar infusion. You pack a jar as tight as you can with whatever fresh herb you’re using and cover it completely with oil. (If you need to measure, two parts of fresh herb and seven parts oil will work). Press a spoon down and squeeze out as much air as you can, and add more oil. Once you’ve done that, leave the jar in the sun for around a month or so.

You can also use a crockpot or double boiler overnight instead of steeping for four weeks, but make sure not to burn the thing. If you’re using dried herbs, use one part herb (instead of two) to seven parts olive oil.

Once your oil is ready, pour it into clean mason jars using cheesecloth, making sure to wring out any remaining oil from the plant material. Some people add more herbal material after this process is complete, using the infused oil and new oil to cover the jar, which will give you more potent oil. Make sure to store your oil in a cool, dark place. Vitamin E (just a few drops) can help preserve it even longer.

Salves

To make a salve, just add one or two teaspoons of grated beeswax per ounce of oil (or an ounce of beeswax for five ounces of oil). To test the consistency, drop some on a piece of wax paper. You can add more oil to make it softer or add beeswax to make it harder. Once you’re happy with the consistency, pour the mixture into a jar before it cools and hardens.

Herbal tinctures

Tinctures are those little glass dropper bottles you see in the health food stores, and making these yourselves will offer you the greatest bang for your buck. They’re usually brown or blue and are typically made with alcohol as a solvent. (Some people use glycerin or apple cider vinegar instead, but they don’t extract as well and don’t last nearly as long).

Fresh herbs are typically prepared at a 1:2 ratio, which 95 percent alcohol (Everclear), so that’s 1 part herb and 2 parts alcohol. For example, if you want to fill a 32-ounce quart jar, you’ll need 10.66 ounces of plant matter (by weight) and then 21.33 ounces of alcohol (by volume). Typically you can just put in the plant and add alcohol until it’s full, close the lid, and then top it up the next morning if necessary. You’re using Everclear because fresh herbs have water in them already, and the alcohol will extract that water.

Another example of a 1:2 ratio: to make a ginger tincture, you’ll want to chop up 1 ounce of ginger for every 2 ounces of Everclear. You can also weigh the herb and then eyeball the alcohol, pouring it over the ginger until it’s covered. Then, let it soak in a cool, dark place for two to four weeks or so. You can shake it every day if you want. Strain into a glass jar and then dark bottles when you’re done.

Dried herbs are all different, and you’ll need a reliable material medica to get a ratio, as it is different for each plant. Herbs that are oily and resinous need more alcohol to extract. But if Everclear is illegal where you live, you can usually use dried plants and vodka, which is 100 proof. Just put four ounces of dried, powdered herb in a mason jar and add 20 ounces of vodka. Processing is the same as for fresh plant tinctures after that: put on the lid and let it sit for two to four weeks, shaking daily if you’d like. Then strain it into a glass jar and then in dark bottles when you’re done.

Liniments

Liniments are made in the same way as tinctures, but since they are used externally, you can use rubbing alcohol (or even witch hazel) instead of Everclear. A good ratio is one ounce of dried herb per five ounces of alcohol, or one ounce of fresh herb per two ounces of alcohol. Let it steep for two weeks, strain it into a bottle, and make sure to label it “FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY” so you don’t drink rubbing alcohol or any plants that should only be used externally.

So there you have it, all of the basic herbal preparations. There are others—honeys and vinegars and lozenges and such—but this is enough to get you started. We’ll wrap up next month with some practical applications.