Making Herbal Medicine-Methods

Water

Infusion
The most common form of everyday use for herbs is tea.
Hot Infusion

Pour boiling water over an herb. Steep for fifteen minutes. Strain. This method is usually used for leaves and flowers to make instant tea for drinking. Powdered bark, root, seeds, and resin and bruised nuts, seeds, bark, and buds are also receptive to steeping in boiling water.

Cold Infusion

Steep in cold water or cold milk for several hours. Wet, mashed herbs can be used internally as a tea or as poultices on the body.

Waters
Steeped herbs, water, and alcohol and steeped herbs plus honey and other fruits are often called waters. Sometimes extracts or spirits of various herbs (lavender, for instance) are also called waters.

Decoction

This is the second most frequently used method of extracting chemicals. Hard parts of plants, such as twigs, roots, barks, rhizomes, berries, and some seeds, only release volatile oils and locked in chemicals when they are gently simmered for about thirty minutes in water. Strain and use. Long simmering will produce a distillation, or extract, of an herb. This is similar to a soup.

Alcohol

Tincture
Herbs not soluble in water are usually soluble in rectified alcohol or spirits. A tincture is a solution of a medicinal substance in alcohol or diluted alcohol. Coarse, bruised, or pulverized material is usually used. The material is placed directly in the bottle, or alcohol may be filtered through the plant material. To filter, use coffee parchment cones. Medicated wines are tinctures of a less stable nature.

Oils
Aromatic oils and rectified alcohol can be combined. The oils seep into the alcohol to produce an essence. See Oils.

Vinegar

Tincture
Herbs that are soluble in alcohol are frequently soluble in vinegar, and such steeping of fresh or dried plant materials is useful for salad vinegars, cosmetic vinegars, some liniments, and preventive, sickroom "washes."

Fat

Ointments
Fresh or dried herbs, herb oils, or herb tinctures and extracts heated together with any variety of fats produ healing salves. Add wax for hardness.

Cold Cream
Mix lanolin (fat), oil, rosewater, and wax.
Suppository
Heat a fat, herb, and wax, or preferably cocoa butter an healing herb for cylinder shaping and insertion in rectur or vagina.

Lip Balm
Combine oils, honey, beeswax, vanilla.
Oils

Essence
Oils may be "captured" by evaporation from flower petals. Also, vegetable, nut, or fruit oils can be used as a medium for steeping aromatic plants to extract volatile oils. Aromatic oils can also be steeped in alcohol to extract essence.
Combinations
Combine oils for healing, massage, insect repellent, or lip balm.

Juice

Essence or Extract
Extract a juice of a plant by applying pressure.

Sugar

Alcohol and sugar have many similar chemical components, and sugar will preserve many plant materials.
Syrup Combine sugar, water, and plant, or sugar, water, plant, and spirits.
Jelly Syrup in more congealed form.
Electuary
Use powder to make a syrup.
Conserve
Beat together sugar and plant material.
Lozenge
Pill made of solid plant material, sugar, and gummy material.

Dried Material

Pills
Roll bruised or pulverized plant material into pellets, place' in glycerine capsules, or work with sugar into cake like lozenges. Combine dried material for various insect repellents, potpourri, rodent repellent, herb deodorant, and herb salts.
Combinations
Single herb or combinations of herbs may be steeped to make a drinking tea, a decoction, or, steeped in alcohol, vinegar. Steeped, strained material may be used for douching and rectal irrigation purposes.
Laxative
Single herb or combinations of herbs can be used for laxative purposes.
Breath Sweeteners
Eat breath sweetening seeds such as caraway, fennel, or anise, or steep these and other seeds and spices in sherry to make breath sweetening gargles and mouthwashes.
Liniment
Add dried herbs to vinegar, oils, alcohol, or water to produce friction rub.
Tooth Preparations
Combine dried herbs and other materials for tooth aids.