A friend taught us how to make this simple tincture many years ago, and we’ve been using it ever since. Most tinctures are made in alcohol (alcohol extracts the beneficial properties from herbs best), but because we wanted to give this tincture to our children, we’ve always made it with vegetable glycerine, a naturally sweet substitute for the alcohol. We don’t sell the herbs or the glycerine, but our friend Vlad does. Visit his store, MoreThanAlive.com here.
5-6 cups Echinacea Root
1 cup finely chopped or grated fresh garlic
1 cup Pau D’Arco Inner Bark
1 cup Siberian Ginseng
Cayenne Pepper, fresh or dried – the amount is up to you, but do use some.
4-6 cups vegetable glycerine
1. Put the herbs into a glass gallon jar.
2. In a separate container, mix about 4 cups of the glycerine with 4 cups of water. At first, the glycerine and water will not combine. Just keep stirring, and they will eventually come together. When they do, pour the mixture over the herbs in the jar.
3. If the jar is not full, mix enough of the remaining glycerine with water to fill the jar.
4. Put the lid on the jar and leave it in a cool dark place for 4-6 weeks, shaking the jar once a day. After 4-6 weeks, the tincture is ready to use. Strain it through a white cotton cloth or several layers of cheesecloth, pour the liquid into a clean bottle, and store it in the fridge.
We give this to our children by the dropperful or by the teaspoon.