Making Cayenne Tincture - here ya go! Re: Cayenne Tincture

taken from here: http://healingtools.tripod.com/thns7a.html#caytinc

I have made "*** inserts" on the things I will be commenting on below the instructions/guidelines

CAYENNE PEPPER TINCTURE Therapeutic Action: CAYENNE is a POWERFUL and PURE Stimulant, having NO Narcotic Effect, increasing the POWER of the Pulse and carrying the Blood to ALL parts of the Body, plus EQUALIZING and RESTORING the BALANCE of Circulation throughout the Body! Cayenne is a Hemostat, ARRESTING the flow of Blood from a Cut or Wound in SECONDS and a Cardiac Tonic, HELPING to REBUILD the Heart. It is an Antiseptic, KILLING Pathogens and a Counter-Irritant, helping to RELIEVE Pain. And Cayenne is a Stomachic, HELPING to DIGEST Foods and a Carminative, HELPING to EXPEL Gas.

Formula: The BEST Cayenne Pepper Tincture is made by the following Dr. Schulze Method:
1. Start to make the Tincture, if possible, on a NEW Moon.
2. Take a Quart Canning Jar and fill it One-Fourth FULL with DRIED Cayenne Peppers, getting the HOTTEST ones (i.e. - Habanero, African Bird, Serrano, Jalapeno - 90,000+ Heat Units), that you can obtain. ***
3. Add enough 50% Grain Alcohol (100 Proof Vodka) to the Cayenne Peppers, that have been powdered, using a Blender or Grinder, to just cover them. ***
4. Use enough FRESH Cayenne Peppers, that you can blend with 50% Grain Alcohol (100 Proof Vodka) and turn the Mixture into an Apple Sauce-Like Consistency.
5. Add this Mixture to the 1st Mixture, filling the Canning Jar up to Three-Fourths FULL.
6. Fill up the rest of the jar with MORE 50% Grain Alcohol (100 Proof Vodka).
7. Shake it as MANY times as possible, during the day.
8. Let this Mixture sit, until the following FULL Moon (15-16 Days), but OPTIMALLY until the following NEW Moon (28-29 Days)!
9. Strain this Mixture through an UNBLEACHED Coffee Filter.
10. Bottle the RESULTING Tincture.

***Whenever possible in tincturing (almost always) try to start with dried herbs that are NOT powdered.  The commercial powdering process (or even powdering at home) subjects the herbs to high heat (likely much lower if you do it a home where you can control it), and the combination of the heat and the exposure of all the tiny particals to air will cause the herb to loose some measure of it's essential oils and other 'herbal goodies'.

I make three different cayenne tinctures, and whenever I use dried peppers, I always put them in whole; once they're saturated with alcohol (and done swelling --!!!-- see below), I think put the tincture mix in the Vitamix (or good blender if you don't have a Vitamix), and macerate them then.  That way, ALL of the herbal goodies stay IN the tincture - and they're not lost in the air.  The only time I don't do this is with "Cayenne #2" which has dried Habanero powder.  I can't find an online source for anything but the powder :(  (I grew habbies last year in my garden for the first time - but the yield was very low because I wasn't able to get them planted until late May - they really started producing beautifully about a week before the first frost :::eyeroll::: - hopefully I'll have enough this year to be able to dry/dehydrate them myself.  I'll be planting 35-40 plants.

Note: I have found that dried peppers are MUCH hotter than their raw/fresh counterpart.  A tincture made of 100% raw habaneros (estimated 250,000 - 350,000 H.U.) is not nearly as "hot" as one made from dried African Bird Peppers (estimated around 100,000 - 150,000 H.U.).  Of course, that could just be a variance in plant type, growth conditions and the various places I get them, but it sure seems pretty consistent to us.

The swell factor: keep that in mind when you start - all dried herbs have some kind of a "swell factor", so don't fill the only jar you have 1/2-2/3 full with dried herbs and then add the alcohol...or you can end up with the herbs swelling right out the top of the jar (or if you tightened the lid, exploding the jar).

***Serrano peppers have H.U. rating (Scoville Heat Units) of 7,000 - 20,000.  Jalapenos have a H.U. of 5,000 - 15,000.  We're wanting an HU of 100,000+  Here's a page that explains it: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/pepper/2002075348029538.html

It would seem that Dr. Schulze didn't/doesn't have his "pepper HU brain" updated with current information.  His current powder lists: Botanical Ingredients: Dr. Schulze’s special blend of Habanero, California Jalapeño, African Bird, Chinese Bird, Korean Aji, Japanese and Thai Red Peppers.  He says this: this Cayenne/Capsicum concentrated extract and powder is by far the strongest available anywhere. We label them 250,000 heat units, but that is a MINIMUM. Often some of the peppers we use rate over 500,000 heat units. ...but I can't see how (with that mix of the lower heat peppers) that it could possible have an H.U. of 250,000.

The one we make is 3/4 African Bird & 1/4 Habanero - and it is MUCH hotter than Schulzes. 

Tincturing is EASY - you don't have to be worried about doing anything in the "perfect order" - just get the peppers in there, soak 'em with alcohol, put it all into a blender and turn it to "applesauce consistency", put it in a jar, add some 100 proof alcohol/vodka, let it settle a bit and keep adding alcohol until the amount of alcohol that floats to the top equals the same amount of 'applesause' that sunk to the bottom.  And if you want it stronger? Use less alcohol.  Most of our tincture jars are 3/4 'herbal applesauce" and a 1/4 "float".

The important part?  Just doing it!!  And good for you for doing it - any tincture we make at home is FAR better and more effective than anything we can buy - guaranteed!

Tincture ON!

Unyquity