Marshmallow tincture.
From: "Sandra" sc62.charter.net
To: herb.lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Herb] Marshmallow Root Tincture
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 16:25:29 -0500
I recently read that because marshmallow root is highly water soluble, and mucilage, that if it is tinctured with more than 20% alcohol, it will cause nausea when ingested.
Unfortunately, I did not see this until after I had tinctured it 1:5 with 80%.
I hope this is not true, is it?
From: "jim mcdonald" multiflorum.hotmail.com
Nope, though an herb as mucilaginous as marshmallow is really best as a tea, if the mucilage is what you're looking for. I've tinctured the dry root in the past using 50%, and though it extracted well enough, whenever I tried to combine it with other tinctures the mucilage would come out of solution and look like, well... phlegm that you might have just coughed up.
Likely, the 20% alcohol advisory was simply because that's about the minimum needed to preserve a tincture.
Where'd you read that?
From: Henriette Kress hetta.saunalahti.fi
> that if it is tinctured with more than 20% alcohol, it will cause nausea when ingested.
You won't get nausea, but you won't get any benefit from the mucilage either. It's a tea herb.
From: "Sandra" sc62.charter.net
Thank you Henriette and Jim,
The reference did say that marshmallow was best used internally as a tea because of the mucilage, or tinctured with very low alcohol, or none at all,...... (which would make it tea).
I've made slippery elm tea,also high mucilage (for a sick pet) and I would find it nauseating to have to drink myself, but would not try to tincture. What confuses me sometimes as to what herbs to tincture is, I look up what herbal companies are selling as tinctures; in this case, marshmallow was always listed.
Also found a website that listed all the herbs and the parts used with the ratios of alcohol to tincture with, and for Marshmallow was 40%.. 80 proof. Confusing to new people.
Conclusion: best used as a tea for mucilage, it's primary benefit, but has other secondary properties that are extracted as tinctures?
From: "Joanie" macphee.net1plus.com
Hi,
I don't understand why people are so hung up on tinctures.
Sure, some plant constituents are best extracted that way.
And some plants and roots need to be preserved and that is the best way for them.
But when they are tasty as foods or teas, or in honey (as roses or clary sage) or a myriad of other ways, or very effective chewed or in teas, however prepared, why is there such a strong tendency to ruin that taste and appeal to the palate and spirit by smooshing with the often vile taste of alcohol? I don't get it.
I figure, in my cynical way that marshmallow tinctures for sale are made because they may sell, and have plenty of shelf life while waiting...and tinctures are really quite expensive...nice little profit margin. A little bag of marshmallow root might run you 50 cents ... tincture, 20 times that, for much less ROOT.
Sure, there are probably some constituents that extract and can be used for some reason...but I have never understood ruining the taste of marshmallow (among many) with alcohol. I *so* prefer herbs as food. And I have never had bad results advising others that way.
as my favorites always say...Eat your weeds.....or, better yet....Chew a Root Today. Yum yum.
From: "Sandra" sc62.charter.net
The url's for the tincture ratios are:
http://___/basics.htm and http://___/healingbreezes
They do not agree on all of the percentages.
For the marshmallow, there is a big range on one of them.
From: Henriette Kress hetta.saunalahti.fi
> The url's for the tincture ratios are:
I like Michael Moore's ratios best, because they work: http://www.swsbm.com - go for his manuals, go for the Materia Medica.
From: "Sandra" sc62.charter.net
> I like Michael Moore's ratios best, because they work:
Thanks Henriette,
I really like Michael Moore's site, and have read much of it often;
I noticed for the marshmallow that he mentions either cold infusion or fresh tincture, and I was wondering if that was because of the mucilage?
Because yesterday I tinctured several dried herbs, some being hops, arnica flowers and yarrow herb and flowers, and these three, esp. the hops, were so fluffy and and voluminous, they filled the jar using the 1:5 ratio, and also they absorbed all the alcohol, w/o even covering the herb.
I know this subject has come up before, and I went back into the digests that I have saved (them all), and the suggestion was possibly to use 2 oz. of herb to 8 oz. of menstruum, but I found that it made no difference.
To save it, I just kept covering with more vodka, but I don't know what it's going to be like when it's finished. Probably very weak.
Could you explain how you do the dried herb?
From: Henriette Kress hetta.saunalahti.fi
>the suggestion was possibly to use 2 oz. of herb to 8 oz. of menstruem, but I found that it made no difference.
? 2:8 is 1:4 which is worse than 1:5, if your problem is that the herb is too fluffy to cover with alcohol. In that case, powder it up.
>Could you explain how you do the dried herb?
I don't tincture marshmallow.
If I need to tincture very fluffy herb that doesn't lessen in volume by powdering it, I percolate, at the usual 1:5.
From: Dan McDonley dan.awherbals.com
>I noticed for the marshmallow that he mentions either cold infusion or fresh tincture, and I was wondering if that was because of the mucilage?
Although he lists fresh plant tincture, when i was there in 2001 he had since given up on the tincture alltogether and reccomended it strictly as tea. He also thinks leaf works just fine compared to root.
I am all in favor of tincturing just about anything, but this one to me is strictly tea.
