Over the past two weeks, I’ve been focusing on nutrition for kids, specifically on how to improve their diets through food and sometimes with the help of supplements.
When it comes to supplements… multi-vitamins in particular… a lot of natural mamas are split on whether to give their kiddos a daily vitamin or to skip it and focus on other ways of getting the same vitamins and minerals into their kids.
I’ve shared the kinds of things I personally think you should look for in a children’s multi-vitamin if you’re going to opt-in to a daily supplement, and I’ve also shared my personal reasons for opting out of daily vitamins with my kids as well as what I do instead.
Today I wanna share a bit about how you can use herbs to get some of these necessary vitamins and minerals into your children, mainly when you’re choosing to opt-out of multi-vitamin supplements altogether or for the time being. I’ll share some of my past herbal multivitamin recipes as well as a new one that comes in liquid form.
If you’ve missed any of the posts in this Nutrition For Kids series and want to catch up, click here to start at the beginning!
Using Herbs For Nutrition
Herbs can be a very valuable source of nutrition for us all. I mean, they are plants and all plants contain nutrients as well as medicinal constituents.
When it comes to using herbs in my own family, I think of them in two different ways. Nutritional herbs and medicinal herbs. They are one and the same, but most of the time I try to use them nutritionally much more than I use them medicinally. Does that make sense? You don’t have to have something wrong with you to use herbs. They can and should be used primarily for assisting the body to stay healthy, nourished, and in balance.
Getting your kids to take herbs is where the problem lies many times, but I’ve found that using powdered herb blends in my kid’s foods and snacks is a great way to get these nutritional herbs in them without any fuss.
Powdered Herbal Multi-Vitamin Blends
In the past, I’ve shared a couple of recipes that use powdered herbs as a great alternative to daily multi-vitamins for kids.
Why are powdered herbs a good way to get nutrients into your child’s body?
Well, one reason is that herbs are a whole food, and when they’re used in powdered form (as fresh as possible of course) then the body can do its job digesting the powders and extracting the nutrients found within those plants. This not only gives the body full access to vitamins and minerals but also to the other constituents in the plant as well. We’ll talk more about other plant constituents below in the liquid section of this post.
Be sure to check out the following posts that use different powdered herbs in various ways to boost the nutrition your child is consuming.
The great thing about using powdered herbs in this way is that the sky is the limit on combinations you can use. Almost all herbs come in powdered form, and you can put together nutritional combos like the two above as well as medicinal combos.
I typically buy my powdered herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs as they have many options and they are very particular about the quality of their products.
Next up, let’s look at another way to use herbs to get some added “multivitamin-like” nutrition into our kids.
Liquid Herbal Multi-Vitamin Blend
Using nutritious herbs in liquid form is a great way to reap their benefits. Not only is water an effective solvent for extracting vitamins and minerals from plant material, but it’s easily absorbed in the digestive tract.
Now when it comes to thinking about creating a liquid multi-vitamin formula, you must consider two things.
- The herbs you’re going to use in your formula
- The liquid you will use to extract nutrients from the herbs
The Herbs
The herbs I’ve chosen for this blend are perfect to use in combination with a healthy diet if you wanna take a break from the daily multivitamin or if you wanna skip it totally. Not only is it full of herbs that contain many of the necessary vitamins and minerals your child needs, but the combo tastes great too so chances are your kids will take it without any problems.
The herbs used in this formula are a follows:
- alfalfa*
- red raspberry*
- nettle*
- rosehips*
- oatstraw**
- dandelion root**
- peppermint***
* – primary nutritional herbs
** – secondary nutritional herbs
*** – for taste
Vitamin/Mineral Content
- Alfalfa – eight essential amino acids, chlorophyll, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, sodium, potassium, other trace elements, promotes assimilation of other plants
- Red Raspberry – vitamin B, calcium, iron
- Nettle – iron, calcium, zinc, chromium
- Rosehips – vitamin C
- Oatstraw – silica, calcium, chromium
- Dandelion Root – sodium, iron
- Peppermint – potassium, phosphorus
Now you may be looking at this list and thinking, “Where are all the vitamins? I only see vitamin B and vitamin C!”
Well, here’s the deal. Vitamins A, E, D, and K are all fat-soluble vitamins, so even though many of these herbs contain these fat-soluble vitamins, they aren’t extracted in water because water will only extract water-soluble vitamins. The best way to get these fat-soluble vitamins is through your food, fermented cod liver oil, or taking powdered herbs. Also know that fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the body and, therefore, do not need to be consumed as often as water-soluble vitamins. Vitamins B and C are water-soluble vitamins, and they are extracted well with the liquids we’ll discuss next.
You can use any combination of the above herbs, but I’d recommend using the herbs with one asterisk (*) for sure as they pack a powerful nutritional punch. All these herbs are safe for children, and they blend really well together. You can also check out this vitamin and mineral post from LearningHerbs.com where they list herbal sources of different vitamins and minerals. This may help you to make your own herbal formula based on your child’s specific needs if you wanted. Just make sure the herb is safe for children first!
The Liquid
As far as choosing a liquid goes, most people would opt for an herbal glycerite because it will extract properties from the herbs, and it tastes great so kids will take it. Unfortunately, only certain liquids are known to extract certain constituents from plants. (Source) When it comes to the constituents we’re looking for in this formula… vitamins and minerals, glycerin alone is not enough. Water must be used.
So if you want to extract the nutrients from your herbs, you have two options here.
- Use herbal infusions to sip on throughout the day.
- Use glycerites that contain 40% glycerin and 60% water a few times a day.
Today, we’re going to focus on using straight water, in the form of teas and infusions, to get our herbal vitamins and minerals into our kids.
How To Make Herbal Teas And Infusions
To make an herbal tea, check out this Using Herbs page on making herbal teas or read this post on how to make a perfect cup of herbal tea. To make an infusion (which is a really strong tea that you don’t drink as much of at once), check out this Using Herbs page on making herbal infusions.
As you can see from the resources above, herbal teas and infusions are both really easy to make, but now I wanna share 5 easy ways you can get your kids to take them.
5 Easy Ways To Get Your Kids To Take Herbal Teas
1. Make sweet herbal tea
What kid doesn’t like sweet tea? Maybe that’s just my kids because we live in the south.
Anyway, take your herbal tea, add some honey to taste, and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours to cool down. Pour it up in a mason jar, pop in a fun paper straw and some ice cubes, and enjoy some herbal sweet tea a couple of times a day. Your kids will love it, and they’ll feel spoiled being able to have a fun treat so often. You mom, won’t feel guilty because you’ll know their special treat is packed full of nutrients that are helping their body.
2. Make herbal popsicles
Making herbal popsicles is no harder than making any other popsicle recipe. Simply substitute your juice for your herbal infusion in exact amounts or at least cut the juice portion of the recipe in half. The juice and the fruit you use in the popsicle recipe will mask any herb flavors your kids may not be so fond of, and these make an excellent treat on hot summer days. These are my favorite popsicle molds.
3. Use as the water portion of smoothies
When you make smoothies, many times you’ll need a small amount of liquid to help your smoothie blend well. Herbal infusions are a great choice as they not only help to boost the nutrition of the smoothie, but they can add flavor and depth to the smoothie as well. Just replace the liquid in your smoothie for your herbal infusion in exact amounts, and you’ll be good to go.
4. Freeze into ice cubes
Another way to get this herbal tea or infusion into your kids is to freeze it into ice cubes using silicon ice cube molds. You can then put these herbal ice cubes into drinks on hot days or you can use them in smoothies instead of plain water ice cubes. They’re also great to suck on if it’s hot outside, but I would not recommend that for small children.
5. Make herbal jello
This tip comes from Jamie at HowToJustAboutAnything.com from the comments below, and I thought it was such a great idea that I had to share it here in the post. She used herbal teas and infusions to replace some of the water or juice called for in her homemade jellos. This is an easy way for her kids to get the goodness of the herbs and the nutrition from the grass-fed gelatin she’s using. Here’s my favorite homemade jello recipe that you can try if you like this suggestion!
Next, let’s look at the actual herbal multi-vitamin recipe and dosage.
Making An Herbal Children’s Multi-Vitamin Formula
Below are the amounts of each herb that I’m suggesting you use in your children’s multivitamin formula. I like to make a large batch of this blend and store it in my herb closet so I don’t have to dig out all of my individual herbs every 2-3 days to make a new batch. It’s much easier to grab one jar than eight!
Ingredients:
- 2 parts alfalfa
- 2 parts rosehips
- 1 part red raspberry
- 1 part nettle
- 2 parts peppermint
- 1 part oatstraw
- 1 part dandelion root
Directions:
Mix herbs together, label, and store properly. Follow directions for making an herbal tea or an herbal infusion found on the Using Herbs page.
Dosage:
Most children need around 2 cups of this each day. Remember, these herbs are safe for children and non-toxic so drinking more won’t hurt them. If you think getting 2 cups a day into your kid will be a challenge, get creative and remember that there are always other options for herbal multivitamins like the powdered blends above or getting nutrition via foods.
Okay, so that’s it for making your own herbal children’s multi-vitamin formula. I hope this has been a great resource for you mama. I hope you’ve learned something, and I hope it makes getting food-based nutrients in your child even easier.
Great idea! We’ve been making a similar herbal tea and then mixing it with juice and gelatin to make jello. My toddler won’t drink tea, but he will eat the jello 🙂
Oh I love that idea Jamie!! I’m gonna add it to the post! Love it! Thanks for sharing!
if i make a glycerite tincture with this, what would you recommend as a dose?
First off, glycerin doesn’t extract vitamins and minerals. Water and alcohol do. If you wanna use glycerin to help your child like it, follow these steps. I’d take your dried herbs, put them in your jar, and add 70% boiled water to your jar followed by 30% glycerin. Put your lid on and macerate your mix for 3 days in the crockpot as described here. Strain your herbs, bottle, label, and store. This will last about a year and will have some vitamins and minerals extracted in it although not as much as water or alcohol alone.
As far as dosing goes, it will depend on the preparation. For an infusion, I’d do 1-2 cups a day depending upon the age of the child. For an alcohol tincture (1:4, 30% alcohol), I’d say 10-30 drops a day, and for glycerin, I’d go with 20-60 drops a day. Again, it would depend on the age of your child too. The smaller, the lower the dose. Hope that helps some!
How do you Macerate in a crockpot?
When you “macerate” herbs, you’re soaking them in some form of liquid for a set amount of time. If I were using heat from my crockpot to speed the maceration process up, I’d put my herbs and liquid in a glass mason jar, set it on top of a dishcloth, fill my crockpot with water (an inch from the top of the crockpot or the jar – whichever comes first), and keep my crockpot on “warm” for 3-7 days, depending on the herbs and how finely they were chopped. Does that answer your question?
Yes, Thank you.
I love everything about your blog. I am a new herbal momma that can never get enough knowledge. I love how simple you make everything. This almost sounds like a “Juice” in the way they need to consume it. Can these herbs be used again after they have been in the water and we have used all the water?
Thanks for your kind words Jennifer, and yes!! That’s it exactly… it is like a juice. You can make it each night before bed, let it sit overnight, strain it in the morning and refrigerate it. Then give it to your kiddo in 1/2 cup increments throughout the day.
As far as reusing the herbs… you can do that when you make teas (herbs macerate in water for 10-20 minutes), but not for infusions (herbs macerate in water 4-12 hours). You can reuse herbs with teas once, but an infusion takes everything out of the herbs so you wouldn’t get much from your second batch. Teas are weaker which is why you have to drink so much more of them. Infusions are stronger, more concentrated, therefore you need less of them. HTH!
Thank you so much for answering! Makes me all the more confident in Herbs! I will be making this when we get into our new home. I made your adaptogenic blend for our family a month ago while we are all in transition through this new job and move. I can’t tell you what a difference it has made especially in my 3 year old. I only give him an 1/8 of a tsp and it still works fantastic. Thank you again for all your research and hard work!
In your article it says that the red raspberry provides b vitamins. Do you know how much and which b vitamins ?
Great question Meagan. Raspberry leaf is said to contain vitamin b complex, but I’m not sure in what amounts. Here’s a great article all about the nutritional value of raspberries in fruit form, and this link shows you the nutritional breakdown of raspberries as far as how much of what is found in them. Maybe this info is similar for the leaves too?? HTH!!
Hello,
If I were to make 2 cups a day, how much of each herb would I need to use? I can’t find this information anywhere.
Thank you
Hi Danielle. The recipe for the multi-vitamin mix is at the bottom of the post. Simply mix all your herbs together and store them in a labeled container. When you’re ready to make the tea, take a mason jar, fill it 1/3 full of your herb mix, fill with hot water, and allow it to steep for 30-60 minutes. Strain the herbs and compost them, sweeten your liquid, and let your kiddo drink 2 cups a day. I’m sorry the Using Herbs pages aren’t working… I’m redoing them as we speak.
I found the page “How to make the perfect herbal tea.” It said to use about a teaspoon of the herbs. Is that how much I use for my toddlers tea? About 1 or 1.5 teaspoons per 8 ounce hot water? Thank you so much. I am very new to this.
Danielle
Yes Danielle… when making an herbal tea that is for drinking or just for enjoyment, the most common measurements are 1 teaspoon of herbs to 8 oz. of water steeped 3-5 minutes. That makes a weak tea with a light flavor that is usually sweetened. For medicinal teas, you use a larger amount of herbs (1-3 T.) and the same amount of water (8 oz.) and you let this steep longer (20-30 min.). This is called an infusion. These amounts and times are not set in stone… it really depends on the herbs used and the amount of infusion you are making. Some infusions are made a quart at a time and can set overnight before straining and drinking. Everyone has their own way of doing things and most infusion “recipes” will tell you how much and how long.
As far as using teas and infusions with your kids go, children can drink teas just like an adult would drink them since they’re so weak, but infusions are different. A child would drink less of an infusion than an adult would depending upon their weight. I have a post coming up ver soon all about determining dosages which will have a chart that shows you how to determine the dosage for kids based on an adult dose. Stay tuned, and I hope this info helped!
Hi.
So happy i found this information on a better way to give my kids who dislike anything green and healthy.
I was confused on measurement , Is 1 part of an herb equal to 1 cup ?
Parts are any unit of measurement. It can be 1 tsp. or 1 cup as long as you use the same thing across the board. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 part chamomile, 3 parts lavender, and 1/2 part of passionflower, then you can do 1 tsp. of chamomile, 3 tsp. lavender, and 1/2 tsp. of passionflower. Make sense??
funny question. Didn’t you have horsetail in this recipe?
I did, but I removed it after a reader pointed out that horsetail isn’t recommended for children because some varieties contain nicotine and if the child gets too much horsetail they can have side effects that resemble nicotine poisoning… something I didn’t know! My sources say that horsetail is safe for internal consumption… just not for kids. Thanks!!
Great post!
My little one loves almond milk version of herbal tea. Instead of water, I warm up almond milk and add the herb mix. Works great!
Also had very good results with vegetable glycerine. Got my older one off asthma meds with herbal formula in vegetable glycerine.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing. We love the taste of almond milk here too. Never tried it in herbal tea, but I’ll definitely have to sometime!
Deb Perin,
How did you do the herbal for ula in vegetable glycerine for asthma remedy?
This is just what I need! I have a four year old with a digestive disorder that makes finding even natural supplements that will work for him, very difficult. I’ve been frantically trying to learn all I can about herbs and I know your site will be a huge help! Thank you!!
I hope this works well for you, and remember, if he doesn’t like the flavor you can always experiment with different herbs for different flavors. More mints, chai blends with cinnamon, clove and cardamom, or citrus blends with lemon, orange peel, and hibiscus!
I have a question….there seem to be some discrepancies involving tinctures that I’ve gathered from a few different sources, that I was hoping someone could graciously clarify for me.
Firstly, if glycerin does not extract vitamins and minerals, then why is it so commonly used for tinctures? Is it just the water, to dampen the herbs, that is doing all the beneficial extracting, and the glycerin just for taste?
Also, I read elsewhere that alcohol doesn’t extract these nutritional properties either, and that only water and vinegar do that. I don’t remember where, but again, read someone else say that alcohol actually KILLS the vitamins and minerals, and another (elsewhere again) said that vitamins and minerals are only water and VINEGAR soluble.
I always understood that alcohol made strong tinctures, that glycerites were inferior—but if glycerin and alcohol are not used for extracting vitamins and minerals—why are tinctures always made with them? What properties are being maintained by using glycerin, or alcohol? Is alcohol really that detrimental to the properties of the herbs? Why is it always used (and seems to be preferred), then?
Some other students of herbalism stated on another blog (they couldn’t agree, either), that an infusion or herbal vinegar is the best/only way to get the full nutritional profile of the herbs. So, if one was to make a truly nutritional tincture, to maintain the most amount of beneficial properties from the herbs, would one just use ACV to accomplish this? Could the ACV be combined with alcohol and/or glycerin for taste and any benefits the alcohol lends to the extraction process (though, this would only—then—be true if alcohol did not actually kill any of the beneficial properties)?
I consider myself a student of life, and love learning and improving and would REALLY appreciate an answer from someone who understands better than myself to speak towards this issue—especially since I have a tincture I’m excited to make my husband for Christmas! THANKS IN ADVANCE!
Hi, CB! You ask a great question, and I’ll try to answer you with my thoughts as best as possible, but I think this answer would be a bit clearer in a series of blog posts which I’d love to do… probably sometime in March or April. Keep an eye out!
Okay, so the reason glycerin and alcohol are commonly used for extracts is: one, because they help extract specific properties from the herbs, two, because they preserve the extract, and three, because they concentrate the plant properties making doses easier. Most times, glycerites and tinctures are not used with nutritive herbs. Rather, they’re used to extract and concentrate other herbal constituents instead.
The method of making glycerites and tinctures varies based on the person making them, but most preparations contain water which means they do extract some vitamins and minerals. Glycerites are typically made with 60% water and 40% glycerin. Tinctures vary depending on the alcohol you use. Brandy is normally 60% water and 40% alcohol, vodka is 50% water and 50% alcohol, and pure grain alcohols (like Everclear) are 5% water and 95% alcohol. If your tincture contains water, then some vitamins and minerals will be extracted along with the plant chemicals that the alcohol extracts, but the more alcohol percentage the tincture has, the less vitamins and minerals will be extracted. When making glycerites or tinctures with nutritive herbs, it’s best to go with more water and just enough glycerin or alcohol (approximately 30%) to make it shelf-stable. The same goes for vinegar. Vinegar is mostly water with a small percentage of acid so it will extract vitamins and minerals really well, and most herbal vinegars are also pretty shelf-stable as well.
Here’s a great post by herbalist Rosalee de la Foret that talks about what plant constituents are extracted by different solvents.
As far as tincture strength goes… alcohol is thought to extract best, but glycerin works really well too as does vinegar. Again, they each extract different plant chemicals. Water is considered the universal solvent and alcohol is thought by most to be second best.
When it comes to the best way to get the full nutritional profile of an herb, I’d say eating the herb outright is best. After that, infusions would be second best followed by herbal vinegar.
I hope this helps answer your questions or at least gives you my perspective from my research. Again, stay tuned to the spring posts where I’ll talk more about understanding herbal chemistry for beginners. Thanks!
Hi , i make nettle infusions as part of the water for my son’s homemade goats milk formula. Do you think i should add the herbs you listed to make it a complete multivitamin for my baby? Or is nettle leaf infusion enough?
Also, i couldnt get my toddler to take tinctures or infusion but he gladly take my homemade herbal raw honey/coconut oil powdered herbs. Do you believe infusions are easier to absorb than the powdered herbs? My son is super picky eater and this is the only way he ll take herbs and vegetables. Thank you.
I think that as long as the herbs are safe for babies, you can include them in your child’s diet. You will want to check for possible allergies to the herbs before you start giving him large amounts of them, though. As for which is best… infusions or powder, I’d say that infusions are more easily absorbed, but if your child is picky about the taste then powdered herbs is the next best option. Hope that helps Mariana!
I didn’t take the time to look through the comments but how would you make a alcohol tincture?
You can find instructions here, Joy. Best of luck!
Hello, I am weaning my 2 year old twins now. If I didn’t want to switch them to another milk source, would this herbal infusion provide their nutritional needs they would get from milk, minus the fat? They already eat a ton of avocados, butter and coconut oil on top of getting fermented cod liver oil.
I don’t think so, Jennifer. Milk would have fat-soluble vitamins in it and this infusion only extracts water-soluble vitamins. I don’t think you could switch one for the other and expect the same results. However, I also don’t think that you need to switch them to another milk source if you don’t want to (although raw milk is fantastic), especially if they’re getting healthy fats from other sources. Hope that helps!
I want to make an herbal infusion for my four boys ranging from 19 months to 6years old. How much would i have to make for it to be enough for them? I’ve never done anything like this and I feel overwhelmed with all the information!
The dosage depends on what the infusion is for. If you’re making a nourishing infusion full of vitamin/mineral rich herbs, then an adult dosage would be about 4 cups a day and a child’s dosage would be anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day. When it comes to using nutritive herbs, the dosage isn’t as big of a deal as other herbs can be. Hope this helps!
I’m not sure my kiddos would go for the peppermint to flavor. Can you suggest other herbs that would work well as a flavoring with this combination of herbs.
Would this blend of herbs be safe while nursing?
Yes, G. This blend is safe for nursing mamas!
I looked at the post about infusions, but I’m still not sure. For drinking an 8 oz. cup, how long should this steep for children and nursing mamas? Is overnight ok? Thanks!
Infusions are typically steeped for 4-12 hours so the choice is yours. The longer it steeps, the stronger the infusion will be. I find it easiest to let mine steep overnight. Hope this helps!
Is an infusion the same as a tea? When steeped overnight, can mama and child drink a full 8 oz. or would it be a smaller amount? Trying to get clear on this and build confidence. 😉
What about taking the herbs blending into a powder and putting in capsule. My children will take capsules. If so in what amounts would you do?
You can definitely do that, but it’s more difficult to get the nutrients from capsulated herbs. Liquid preparations definitely work better. If you’re concerned that your kids won’t take this in tea form, you can make a glycerite using 30% glycerin (easy on your blood sugar and tastes sweet) and 70% water. This will help extract the nutrients from the herb and preserve the preparation for 6 months to a year. If you’re set on using capsules, you can definitely powder the herbs and put them into capsules. As for amounts, that will vary based on your preferences. You can use equal parts or you can research each herb to see which ones you’d like more or less of based on the properties they offer. Hope that helps!
What would be the reccomended amount of cups if an adult wanted to try this as an infusion?
An adult would typically take 3-4 cups a day.
Can spearmint be substituted for peppermint?
Yes, definitely!
I would love to make this for my 3 kiddos, especially now with the upcoming gymnastics meets we have going on. I have every single herb but oat straw,which I would love to add. Unfortunately we are a celiac family, and can’t seem to find a company that provides a certified gf oat straws.Do you,by any chance, know such brand?
Thank you.
Yes, you can certainly make it without the oatstraw, and it will still have nutritional benefits. As far as gluten-free oatstraw goes, Oregon’s Wild Harvest says their oatstraw is certified gluten-free, but I’d double-check with their customer service just to make sure because they say this on all their herb profiles. https://oregonswildharvest.com/products/oats-straw-tops-organic-cut-and-sift
Hello Meagan! Can I make infusion of this herbal multivitamin? Is overnight steeping good? An herbalist once said that every herb has steeping time and you have to observe it. Toxic substance may come out if you overdo it.
Yes, you can infuse all of these to draw their nutritional properties out into the water. Most infusion times range from 4-12 hours.
Thank you for this “recipe”.I just finished bottling half a gallon of this vitamin tincture for my family.I see that you recommend only 10-30 drops a day,but to me this sounds very little.I can’t imagine getting too many nutrients from only 30 drops a day.I left my tincture to macerate for exactly 18 weeks.I also added some turmeric to it too.My kids love all veggies and fruits,so very healthy and not picky at all.Even though they fight over salads,not sure what’s the content of our food’s nutrition (we do eat 100% organic).
So I normally would NOT recommend a tincture for this simply because most tinctures contain more alcohol than water and wouldn’t extract a large amount of vitamins and minerals from the plant matter. If you used a low alcohol tincture (70% water + 30% alcohol), that would extract a good amount of nutrients and still have enough alcohol to preserve the batch. The same principle applies if you’re using glycerin instead of alcohol. As for dosage, the 10-30 drops would be a starting dose for a very small child. The older the child, or the more a child weights, the larger the dose would be. You can learn more about dosing for children here. I hope this answers your questions! If you have any others, feel free to reach out!
I did use water and alcohol, but now I’m thinking that the alcohol percentage might be too low as I used 80 proof .
What alcohol percentage would you recommend for the 70% water – 30% alcohol?
Also,for your recipe how much of the water+alcohol would be ok?
Most people make the tinctures for a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio.I believe I did the 1:4 ratio.
Hope I didn’t mess it up.So far,smells and looks ok.I used my 6 ton hydraulic press to press the herbs.
Thank you.I will try and do it again,hopefully the right way.
So ratios don’t have anything to do with alcohol percentages. They tell you how much herb to solvent there is. So you could still do a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio when making this formula in tincture form. As far as alcohol percentages go, I always try to make sure my low-alcohol tinctures have at least 25-30% alcohol to properly preserve them. If you used an 80-proof liquor, then you would have a 40% alcohol in your final liquid. If you want to make your next batch even lower in alcohol, you’ll want to use a 190-proof (95% alcohol) grain liquor, such as Everclear, as I’ve found it’s easier to get the correct amount of water/alcohol you need in your formulas. You can learn even more about using high-proof alcohol in tinctures here. Again, I hope this is helpful, and feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.
thanks we just ordered the molds from your link
Thank you! I hope it works out well for you!