Disclaimer. I am not a licensed health
practitioner. This is just another post on an item you might wish to
have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your
family as best as possible. No medication, including those available
over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.
Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes
only. It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical
care. A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should
be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.
In
Part 1 of the
Usnea series, we discussed gathering this fine herb and powdering it for use in wound management. In Part 2 today we'll cover the preparation of an
Usnea tincture and why you are really going to want to have some of this DIY wonder
drug herb in your preps.
First off, let's discuss what a
tincture actually is. Herbalists have their own language and in the educational process it's kinda important to understand what they're talking about. So here we go:
A tincture is a liquid herbal extract--you know, like the vanilla extract you use for making cookies and other tasty things. In the herbal world,
tincture generally refers to concentrated liquid herbals extracted by alcohol. Alcohol is most often the solvent of choice because it is food grade and because (this is the important part) it can extract the herbal constituents that are poorly soluble in water (if you want your herbal medicine to do its job, you have to get the active compounds from the plant to your body). The specific alcohol used to make tinctures varies by herb. Some herbs have more water soluble compounds in them as well, so a lower-proof alcohol (i.e., one that has more water in it) is used to make those tinctures.
Other solvents to make tinctures for internal consumption include vinegar and glycerin, both of which have their advantages and disadvantages. While alcohol has the benefit of being a premier solvent for both acidic and basic (alkaline) constituents, vinegar is effective really only for obtaining alkaloids. Because it is acidic, vinegar can't do a good job of extracting acidic components. Glycerin is similar to alcohol, but it is just not as effective in extracting active components. But because it is sweet, it's easier for children to take. Glycerin and vinegar tinctures are not as medicinally powerful as alcohol tinctures, so more of those preparations need to be taken to achieve the desired degree of efficacy. Those who wish to avoid alcohol may think their problems have been solved. Not so! Remember, glycerin and vinegar are just not as effective at extracting the chemical constituents. While this is fine if you are merely treating common colds and sore throats that are going to resolve on their own anyway, if you're dealing with a serious condition, say tuberculosis, you may be missing something critical. And glycerin and vinegar tinctures have relatively short shelf lives. Bummer.
So what to do? Stay with me here, to the very end. There are other options, I promise.
First off, let's consider the amount of alcohol actually consumed with a tincture, and the amount of alcohol consumed at other times, you know, when no one is looking. Like chocolate chip cookie dough. Tinctures are often administered in numbers of
drops. That's not that much alcohol, and it is definitely not tasty or desirable in any way. My chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for two teaspoons of vanilla extract per batch of 36 cookies. Using my dropper (and droppers vary), that works out to five drops per cookie, and I probably eat half my cookies before they're baked. What about you?
How about smoothies? In our house, we add a teaspoon or two of vanilla per quart of smoothie. Going on the conservative side for estimation's sake here, we'll use one teaspoon per quart, and that works out to 1/4 teaspoon per one cup serving of smoothie. And we never even give a thought to the amount of alcohol we're consuming in these situations.
Now consider that you could be trying to save a life. Is the amount of alcohol in a few drops or 1/4 teaspoon excessive? OK, I understand. Really. It still makes me uncomfortable. Not to mention it still tastes really nasty. So here's one more work-around since the vinegar and glycerin tincture solutions to the alcohol problem failed you. Add your drops of alcohol-based tincture to very hot water and let sit. Alcohol boils off/evaporates. Voila!
TINCTURE
Now back to
Usnea. As stated in Part 1,
Usnea is really good stuff for treating wounds. But it is so much more.
Usnea tincture can be used to treat skin infections and abscesses (you don't even take it internally in this case), vaginal and fungal infections (well, kinda, but at least you didn't
ingest it), and upper respiratory infections (well, same). However, that's not all. It's effective against MRSA. Even more remarkable is that it eliminates tuberculosis. And not just the tuberculosis of 100-140 years ago that every immigrant into this country was screened for at Ellis Island and Angel Island, and that could be easily cured with antibiotics a few decades ago. It kills the antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis that we apparently no longer screen immigrants for, but seem to be welcoming with open arms.
That tuberculosis.
Are you interested now? I thought so.
The instructions for making
Usnea tincture come from Stephen Harrod Buhner's
Herbal Antibiotics book (reviewed
here), which I very highly recommend. His entire chapter on
Usnea and producing the tincture are found
here, without any mention of his name. It's just been completely plagiarized, and it's been there for over four years. I don't understand how people get away with stuff like that.
Of course, I can't guarantee how long it will be there, but for those who want to take a look before committing to purchase, there it is. The following directions come directly from Stephen Buhner's book:
Again, the immune-stimulating polysaccharides are most efficiently extracted with heat. To do this, when you are making your tincture, heat the herb first in the water you are going to use for tincturing. The best way is in a slow cooker (or, failing that, on low heat, covered, overnight in the oven).
Use a tincture ratio of 1:5 (1 part herb to 5 parts liquid). The liquid should be composed of half water and half pure grain alcohol. So if you have 5 ounces of herb, you will use 25 ounces of liquid—12.5 of water, 12.5 of alcohol.
Put the powdered herb in the slow cooker, add the 12.5 ounces of water, and stir well. It will turn into a kind of mush. Cover and then cook on low heat for 48 hours. Let cool enough to work with it without burning yourself, then pour into a heat-tolerant jar (Mason or equivalent), add the alcohol when the mix is still warm but not hot, and then put on the lid and shake well. Let macerate for 2 weeks, then decant and strain out the herb. Bottle and store out of the light.
As indicated above,
Usnea is one of the herbs that should be extracted with pure grain alcohol (95% or 190-proof). That's the truly hard stuff. It's sold under the name of Everclear or Mohawk. I'd never bought coffee or Coke in my entire life, let alone anything alcoholic (except vanilla extract and the like), so buying Everclear was going to be a real trip. I remembered talk from kids in high school about getting Everclear. I never really paid attention, though I understood from their conversation that it was powerful. (Even the folks at Everclear say it is not to be consumed alone, but should be mixed with something.) I searched the alcohol aisles of all the local grocery and drug stores for Everclear to no avail.
I was getting ready to make my first trip ever into a dedicated liquor store when I read online that Nevada prohibits the sale of Everclear within the state. WTH?! We have legalized gambling, pot, and prostitution, but no Everclear. And neighboring Utah, which prohibits gambling, pot, and prostitution, does sell Everclear.
Talk about irony.
Usnea, Part 1
Usnea, Part 3 