Re: tincturing Echinacea
Yes, I can confirm that this batch of Echinacea has swollen much more than any other herb I've tinctured. The interesting twist for me was that all of the other herbs I've ever done showed very little (if any) swell factor.... green hulls of
Black-Walnut s, cayennes, mint, tyme and garlic do not swell much if any. However, these were all tinctures started with herbs that I'd grown myself. Since these were towards the fresh side, not aged / dried, I suspect this had an influence on the swell factor... .I'm guessing that root/bark herbs swell more than leaf & flower. With this said, last night I started the batch of Hawthorn Berry, 3
pounds of dried (rock-hard dried) berries. One pound went through the blender "apple sauce". I checked this batch this morning and noticed there had been virtually no swell factor.