Consider this blend a daily tonic or an effective drink when you just need to chill out but still function during the day. It has calming, mildly energizing, heart-gladdening, and cognition-enhancing properties. While you could easily make this blend as a tincture (it would actually be a little stronger medicinally), it has a more pleasant, sweet flavor as a glycerite. Thank herbalist Steven Horne for this fast medicine-making technique! Feel free to skip an herb if you don’t have it or don’t like it. For an 8-ounce canning jar, you’ll need about 2 ounces of total prepped herbs by weight and 5 ounces by volume of glycerin.
Ingredients
- 2 parts fresh holy basil flowers or aerial parts, chopped
- 2 parts fresh milky oat seeds, whole
- 2 parts fresh lemon balm aerial parts, chopped
- 1 part skullcap or passionflower aerial parts, chopped (optional, for added sedation)
- 1 part rose petals
- Canning jar with two-part lid
- 100 percent vegetable glycerin
Directions
- Combine and tightly pack the herbs in your jar, not quite to the top.
- Cover with glycerine, leaving a little headroom as you would for canning.
- Cap it, and submerge it in a large pot of water. Bring to a boil, and then let simmer for 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool enough to handle before straining, squeezing as much liquid as possible. Store in a cool, dark, dry spot. Take 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (3 to 5 squirts) twice daily or as needed.
Discover information and more recipes for tinctures in Herbal Tinctures for Health and Well-Being.
Excerpted from Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies © by Maria Noël Groves. Photography © by Stacey Cramp. Used with permission from Storey Publishing.
Expert herbalist Maria Noël Groves has advice for budding herb gardeners: grow exactly what your body needs! In Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies, Groves provides 23 specially tailored garden plans for addressing the most common health needs, along with simple recipes for using each group of herbs. Whether the need is for headache relief, immune support, stress relief, or a daily tonic, readers will learn the three to six herbs that are most effective and how to plant, harvest, and care for each one. All of Groves’ plant suggestions emphasize safe, effective, easy-to-grow herbs that provide abundant harvests and can be planted in containers or garden beds.Order from the MOTHER EARTH LIVING Store or by calling 800-234-3368.