I always incorporate herbs and essential oils into my body products, been self taught on EO's for years but recently I decided to take my education on their usage a little more seriously. I enrolled in herbal and aromatherapy studies beginning next week. I've also just begun taking classes with Lise Wolff, a local registered herbalist.
My goal is twofold. I want to be able to treat my family holistically, whenever possible, and I want to further my understanding of the things I use in my products.
My class with Lise this weekend was about learning to make an elderberry tincture and identifying medicinal plants in the wild. THE VERDICT: I learned much more than I had anticipated.
I knew how to make a tincture but didn't really understand the science behind it all but Lise was great at explaining everything. The reason I chose the use of elderberry as my first class is because of that "looming" threat of the H1N1 flu. My first reaction was to ignore all the reports about H1N1 because I think it is overhyped but then worry set in. I figure, I must at least protect my children.
Elderberry has been scientifically proven by Israeli researcher Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu, Ph.D, of Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center to help prevent the flu and also lessen the duration.
Here are a few articles if you are interested in the studies on elderberry:
WebMD
Israeli Research
Ice News
Blackberry.com
To make an elderberry tincture you must first gather the berries
2nd, you would carefully pull the berries off the bush and place into a bowl or directly into a jar (whatever you wish). I say carefully because although the berries are little they are full of dark purple staining juices. My fingers were purple the entire day.
3rd, if you didn't put them directly into a jar you should pour them into one. (Use glass not plastic)
4th, pour vodka into the jar until it covers the tops of your berries. You don't want much air between the top of your berries and the lid of the jar. Use 60 proof or higher edible alcohol (for preservation). I used vodka.
5th, Cover with a tight fitting lid, label it (name of plant/berry used and date you made it) and let your tincture sit on a shelf for 6 weeks (no need to shake it in between). In 6 weeks you strain it into a bottle and then fill your dropper bottle with the amount you will need. I purchased a 4 oz dropper bottle for my family (and will refill when it runs out).
Our family will be using drops of this tincture under the tongue. Hubby and I plan on using 3-5 drops 2x's a day for ourselves and 2 drops 2x's a day for the kids.
Next... lemon balm tincture :)