Re: Digestive Tonic recipe

There is lack of agreement on this point, but in most cases, herbalists will say to use weight as the common denominator. Christopher said to use weight. In one place Schulze says to use volume. Herbs like peppermint and red clover blossoms are very "fluffy." What I do is tincture the herbs separately then combine the individual tinctures by volume in the desired ratio. You still end up with the same issue though. There are some herbs that no matter how tight you pack them into the bottle need more alcohol than others. I try to use a consistent weight/volume measure of about 1:5 (one ounce herbs to 5 ounces of alcohol). For most herbs, that will get you the applesauce slurry consistency you are looking for in the marc. Some herbs require less, some more. For fluffy herbs, I would recommend packing them as tightly as you can in the bottle and trying to get to a 1:5 ratio, but recognizing you may have to add a bit more to get the herbs wet.

In the end, as Dr. Schulze says, "This isn't rocket science." Exact proportions are not required. I hope that helps. Tweet