"Tinctures are a very popular method of preserving and administering herbs. This is due to the liquids being easy to dispense, measure, blend, and dose.

Tinctures can be made by filling a sterilized jar with your dried or fresh herb and covering with vodka. You can use the 1 part herb to 4 parts vodka method or 1 part herb to 5 part vodka preparation. Seal the jar and keep it in the dark place for 4-6 weeks. After the appropriate amount of time has passed, strain the liquid through a muslin cloth or milk strainer bag to ensure all herb particles are removed. Store in a dark sterilized glass and use as needed.

If you use fresh herbs, you will need to take the water content of the fresh plant into account. Between 70 and 80 percent of a fresh herb is water so you must calculate 70 to 80 percent of the weight of the herb, then subtract this from the water portion calculated.

You can make herbal vinegar using the same process as tincture making. You generally don’t need to worry about adjusting the strength of the vinegar, as most fruit vinegar should sit around the 5 percent acidity level, which is what you want. If the vinegar you have is much higher, you may want to dilute the acidity down to 5 percent using water.

You can store your tincture preparation in amber glass bottles where you can easily administer the preparation through a dropper. Depending on the herb and condition being treated, you generally will only need to take 1-2 dropperfuls of tincture up to three times daily. In general, the more acute a condition, the more frequent the doses."