Yes!...Re: This was with dry Ech, right? Re: A Testimony About My Own Tinctures

Hello Wings, Greetings, my Elven friend,

If your echinacea tincture was made from the dried root and it was that strong, then I must make some. Can you point a link to the recipe you used and let us know where you purchased the herb? Well, I think the only link there is is the one we are creating now. What Uny told me to do was to  purchase the herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs. www.mountainroseherbs.com  Within the week we should have a direct link to the MRH website embedded here on the forum. I used one part cut and sifted certified organic dried echinacea purpurea root and one part cut and sifted certified organic dried echinacea angustifolia root. I think for "parts" for my first attempt at echinacea I used 1/4 cup each, and simply dumped each into a ten ounce Sweet Leaf Tea bottle, then filled the bottle with 100% proof vodka, shook it, and let it sit.

It was funny, Elf, because I knew echinacea "grows" when wet, and that Uny had made a mistake of using too small of a jar when she made echinacea the first time, and the herbs got so impacted in her jar she couldn't shake them, and I think she had a hard time getting the herbs out when it was time to harvest. Well, I watched the echinacea soak up that vodka like a sponge, and I ended up having to transfer the echinacea to a Mason jar before it got stuck in my tea bottle. I kept watching the echinacea, and kept adding vodka to be about two inches above the level of the herbs. It was probably about three hours before the echinacea had expanded all the way and had a two inch alcohol "float" above it.

After three days, my 18 year old son and I blended all of my baby tinctures, individually, of course, macerating them into an herbal slush. This gave the herbs even more surface area exposed to the alcohol. Then every day, whenever we walked past the jars, we'd give the jars a good shaking. Now all of my tinctures are full of herbs, with only an approximate 2 inch alcohol float above the herbs. This is a roughly 80:20 ratio of herbs to alcohol. According to Dr. Schulze's original instructions, I believe his ratio was 50:50.

I'm also thinking that if I buy fresh roots later, after August, I can always use the spring tincture from dried roots to tincture some fresh roots and wind up with an even stronger formulation. It'd probably be pretty amazing stuff. I'd like to experiment with fresh Ech when it comes in, myself. I think Uny told me Pacific Botanicals will get some fresh Ech in come August. Did you add any seeds? No, because Schulze and Christopher didn't.

Great questions. It's an honor to answer them.

Wings