was able top spend another 10 minutes this morning---

MH


The Truth about Herbs

(as I see it)

Written by a Master Herbalist

The truth is, real master herbalist probably do not exist today. Today anyone taking some herbal courses and obtain some paper degrees can call them selves master herbalist. So the title really is what a person wants to believe it should be. To be a complete master herbalist, a person would be skilled at herb identification, history of use, taste and understanding of human health. I personally do not believe anyone fits that title modern times.

Today master herbalist are trained to be more like sales people and in general will make a few of their own herbal products and possible have their own store. To be good, a person needs to experience herbs and to do this they need patients that they have a history with and can watch over time how herbs work and help people with their daily lives. With out the live interaction they have to put faith in what they have read about herbal use.

If a person that is using and suggesting the use of herbs, also makes the herbal products, then that doubles their experience, because to suggest products that you did not personally make, suggest you are putting faith in those that did make the herbs. I personally believe the best herbal information comes by way of reading past historical use back in times when people depended on herbs as their only medications and diet supplements and often part of their yearly food source. Those books will have less about selling herbs and more about surviving better with herbs. The best books will be written prior to 1950 and the very finest prior to 1900 and the reader must always be aware of authors that were writing so they could sell herbs for their business.

Taking many sources into account, the reader can soon theorize on what is the best information to believe in. From my own experience I can safely state that my master herbalist degree is truly a joke, as are many if not most degrees. They will give you a paper in exchange for jumping through their hoops and the proper amount of money. I suggest your master herbalist degree is just one part of your “rounded” education in herbal understanding.

History has proven that our best authors used herbs to save their own lives or the life of a loved one and that the experience made them want to keep experimenting and eventually helping others, because their excitement keeps them talking and those that listen often approach the person and ask them for some of the same herbs, to see if they to can live a healthier life.

We must keep in mind that back when the best herbal information was being written, people did not have the options that we do today with manufacturing and shipping options. We today have the world at our doorstep; capable of obtaining most anything that is being sold. Back in true times you had few options, mostly going out and picking your local weed and hopefully knew which part was best to use and you “sucked” on the herb and then spit out the fiber. You did not have the ability to make fire and tea or grind to a powder and put into capsules. At best, you identified your local herbs and remembered their location so you would know in the time of need. The most needed herbs you may have collected and ‘dried” them for later use.

Once fire and pots were readily available tea was certainly the widest known use of herbs. Some countries to this day use herbs medically as teas and powders, prescribed by herbal doctors. Often even to this day not using extracts and preferring to stay with ancient traditional use.

Today we can choose from organic, wild crafted, farmed, or search outside for our own herbs. We can obtain as teas, powders, extracts, concentrates, standardized, blends, capsules, liquids or almost endless options. There are pharmaceutical grade manufactures supplying the world and still individuals making the best they know how and everyone in-between, from small in home store to full commercial.

The highly commercial products can be made in endless ways as standardized with proper testing and certifications, while the back woods local herbalist offers whole herb and wild harvested. The consumer has endless options and quite often really does not understand what they have purchased. Everyone wants to trust what they have been told, but professional salespeople understand how to obtain impulse sales and get people to come back.

Quite honestly, the success or failure of an herbal product is determined by the bottle size, color and shape along with how professional the label appears and most importantly, the chosen name. That name equals success or failure of the offered product. The name is surely 80% of the success of the herbal product surviving to be made the following year. Manufactures know that people who buy supplements do not really understand what they purchased and will often stock pile such products on shelves for a few years and then throw away based on expiration dates

Expiration dates are a good thing, but often is just a tool to make more sales. To convince the consumer it is their fault they allowed the product to set on their shelf too long is a great gimmick to promote future sells. Ideally herbal teas were kept in paper boxes or bags and best to replace fresh the following year. This is due to oxidation naturally breaking down organic matter. The same is true with herbal powders that are exposed to air. Air naturally seeks to return organic matter back to the ground. When put into sealed bags, jars or even vacuum packed or refrigerated herbs will surely last much longer than one year.


The most popular form of consumption of herbal products is by capsule, many herbalist of the past said they would have went broke if they did not offer herbal capsules. Herbal capsules should be veggie and not from bovine and no fillers. If your capsule has fillers, then you know it is a very commercial made product. Capsules should be double 00 in size, to buy single 0 size makes for allot of capsules. Most humans past age 6 can take double 00 size capsules. Those who are young or have fear of swallowing a herbal capsule it is best to first bite down on the capsule and then quickly swallow like food. Once swallowing is understood then taking herbs by capsule should be easy. Those with difficulty should take with their meal and drink plenty of water with each capsule.

Capsules sealed in their original bottle normally will have an expiration date of 3 years, this is more based on a ‘standard” and not the actual product. Depending on the quality of the herbal powders, the herbs may be still be good well past 5 years, even 10 years depending on the types of herbs. The standard is 3 years and the general rule of use. It is up to the consumer how long they keep their product. My theory has always been that if you spend money for herbal products, it is best to start taking them when you receive them and not stop until the bottles are empty and never find your self-throwing away-unused product.

Shelf life is very important and commercial sources desire to make certain that their products are permanently sterilized, so when seeking commercial products expect that they have been “radiated” as a way of sterilization. Most all herbal capsules are professional made, due the high cost of the machines. Only those that specialize in natural products will avoid the use of radiation, instead they have to do allot of testing to prove and make sure the herbal powders are in the limits of professional use. This extra testing and small run capability makes for a much more expensive end product. Often as little as 50 pounds of herbs can be put into capsules when dealing with a small family owned capsule company. While cheap commercial sources will make enough product to ship to hundreds of stores at a time and require the blanket protection of radiation.

When consuming herbal capsules, the capsule should dissolve in the stomach and it is up to your digestive organs to break down the plant fibers and make use of the minerals and what can’t be used will be eliminated like common food. Never use tablets or coated products, they often will not dissolve at all and will be commercial materials.

Consuming herbal powders or capsules will be the weakest method of herbal consumption and the results only as good as the ability to break down the herbs and assimilate them. A good healthy person can do well with herbal powders.

Chewing the raw herb and spitting out the fiber is by far the oldest way to consume herbs and the natural enzymes in the salvia helps break down the juices and a very natural method of using hand picked wild herbs fresh. Naturally no one does this today and chewing dried herbs would not be pleasant to do; so making herbal teas from the whole or cut herb is probably the most consumed herbs on the planet. It is by far the absolute cheapest method. The mint teas are made with only warm water, while the roots, bark, leaves are made by water 150+ degrees. These raw herbal teas usually do not taste good, so people load their cups up with sugar, milk, etc. The best natural sweeteners with benefit are honey, maple syrup and natural sugar sources and not the highly manufactured white sugar or sugar substitutes. Never use “chemical” produced sugar substitutes. We humans thrive on all 220+ different plant sugars.

Depending on the types of herbs, the tea can be ready to drink in a few minutes or can be simmered for days, even weeks until ½ the volume of liquid as a method to “concentrate” the herbal minerals.

With all plants/trees and life in general, the moment the life source is “removed”, the plant, etc. is expected to be ‘dead” with in 7 minutes. Death a result of the “electrical” life fading away and leaving the organic matter. Nature provides natural bacteria to decompose the organic matter back to the soil. Nothing man can do, stops decomposition 100%, this is why commercially they use radiation as the cheapest possible choice to permanently sterilize foods.

Sugar is an old method of preserving foods with canning being the most widely known. Sugars and fermentation creates wines and every herb can be made into a wine. Wines are very low alcohol content and eventually will turn into vinegars. Herbs can be added to vinegars as well. The most well known vinegar is from the abundant apples known as apple cider vinegar. Well-made apple cider vinegar takes 3 full years to produce good tasting vinegar. When kept properly alive, vinegar can live 100+ years and only gets better with age. Vinegar has a small content of natural plant alcohol. Alcohol is by far the greatest preserver.

Pure plant alcohol is captured from steaming fermented plant material with sugar and yeast. Sugar and yeast is found in nature, but when making alcohol the manufactures all have their own combinations. Most readily available are corn based alcohol or palm alcohol depending on the country. Most grains and fruits will make alcohol. Grape wine by far the most historical The problem with commercial made wines is that they ad an acid to stop the wine from turning into a vinegar and this acid product is toxic to a large percentage of humans, which simple means the other people can handle the poisons while others are sensitive enough to expel the poisons (get sick).

Pure alcohol is extremely ‘dry” and void of all minerals and known as 195 proof alcohol. Alcohol made from wood is very toxic and known as rubbing alcohol and it makes no sense to ever put something toxic on your skin; while rubbing alcohol is the cheapest sterilizer for objects as it peroxide, etc. Those that can afford pure grain alcohol make for the safest sterilizer and preserver.


History shows vinegar and wines and only in modern times with use of vessels and heat was man capable of producing alcohol stronger than 12 proofs. Alcohol less than 195 proof simple means the alcohol has “organic” material still in it and was not all steamed off alcohol. The most common of which is vodka, so the modern herbal books of the past 100 years suggest using vodka around 80 proofs to make herbal tinctures. This produces a quick and easy herbal liquid known as a “tincture” and well made will last 100+ years. The late Dr. Hulda Clark wrote that she could fine living bacteria from “potato” in vodka. She wrote that she could find “impurities” in 150 proof alcohols and the only source she claimed was “pure” was 195 proof grain alcohol. This would only make sense when you consider anything less than 195 proof means it is not all alcohol.

Pure alcohol being void of minerals and a natural dissolver and perfect preserver, makes for the best method to make herbal tinctures. The final chosen proof of the final product will determine the alcohol ‘taste” and naturally you only need enough natural alcohol in the final solution. In modern times profit driven companies/people go the cheapest possible route and even use “machines” that they pour herbs into and out comes a final liquid product the same day and often using “acids” as a method to preserve the liquid and not pay for grain alcohol. This is why I suggest old fashioned made tinctures are the only kind I would even consider, because modern made with machines and chemicals are just too risky to self-experiment with.

To make a perfect liquid herbal tincture even the “best” will use cheap vodka, commercial dry herbs and mix and let set for 14 days and strain and bottle their final product; because that is what the herbal books say to do. The 80 proof vodka is already over ½ water and when mixed with the herbs and hopefully not watered down more, the final product may be 40-60 proof. This would be the “best” to expect from most any source in stores, internet, etc.

To make advanced herbal formulas, you first need the basic ‘tincture”. The tincture should get better with age. It should have permanent shelf life. You need a huge selection of tinctures before you can plan on or have the ability to blend herbal formulas. With out the proper tinctures on the shelf, a person can not go onward with advanced products and must remain with the standard teas, powders, capsules which is basically 90% of the herbal market.

Herbal Syrups made with sugars are 50% sugar if they last and should still be refrigerated after opening. Syrups were very popular as the fast and easy method to concentrate liquid teas and meant to be consumed within a few weeks and naturally being 50% sugar, the sugar was the dominant product. Herbal Syrup / tincture blends void of sugar are stronger by far and have a natural better shelf life and far better taste. The natural herbal minerals used make the final formula a much rounded herbal food product that seeks to supplement the poor diet most humans have.

Liquids and powders can be blended together as concentrated “paste” formulas which due to thickness permits the blend of herbal oils, powders and tinctures all in one formula. So the art of blending herbs is truly endless and as well confusing to the consumer because such books do not exist.

The problem with herbal books