Reply To: Medicine Making | Internal PreparationsĀ
Hi. I just made a valerian root tincture and decided to add 10% vegetable glycerine to the mixture that Seraphina references in her cinnamon tincture and I also came across in Easley and Horne’s Modern Herbal Dispensatory. They mention that adding glycerine can help extract volatile oils, in addition to stabilizing tannins, as Seraphina mentioned. I’m not sure if valerian has tannins but I think it may be rich in volatile oils so I thought I would try the procedure. I have a procedural question. When it says 10% glycerine, is that added to the total volume or calculated to include the total volume? I simply added 25ml glycerine to 250ml alcohol (275ml total volume). But, now I’m wondering if I should have used 25ml glycerine as part of the total 250ml volume and done 25ml glycerine + 225ml alcohol. I’m guessing that by adding 25ml glycerine to 250ml alcohol I’ve weakened the alcohol strength in the tincture? Not sure on that either. Thanks for your help š