Herbal Preparations: Decoctions, Teas and Tonics
It would be a wonderful, ideal situation if everyone had a garden and could just pick herbs whenever they wanted to. But this is not possible for most, and gardens don't just stay with ripe fruit and fresh leaves all the time. There tends to be seasons with most plants.
So just like with food crops, there needs to be a way to: 1) keep the herb from spoiling, 2) Retain maximum nutrition over storage time, 3) Make shipping it, traveling with it, and consuming it more convenient, and 4) Increase potency. These are the main reasons for Herbal Preparations.
There are actually around 10 kinds of herbal preparations depending on how you want to group them. Confusion can occur because sometimes terms can overlap each other. And sometimes one kind of preparation is used to make another kind.
These are the basic herbal preparations:
- Decoctions
- Infusions
- Powders and granules
- Pastes, Pills and Suppositories
- Tinctures
- Extracts
- Poultices
- Compresses
- Syrups
- Lotions or salves
A decoction is the most common preparation used by Herbal practitioners. They give you a packet usually containing several ingredients and tell you to put it in a glass or ceramic pot, cover it with water and boil it for about 30 min. Then pour the water off to drink and then do it a second time with the same stuff.
Other kinds of decoctions are boiled till the liquid is almost gone. This concentrated liquid or paste is then used to make other kinds of preparations. The advantage of decoctions are that they contain a good concentration of an herb's active ingredients and are readily absorbed in the stomach so it is relatively quick acting.
The drawbacks are that it doesn't get a lot of the fat soluble ingredients as well as other ingredients resistant to dissolving in water. Also you might not like the taste and it takes time and effort to do and can be a little messy.
Understanding Herbal Infusions and Powder Preparations
An infusion is usually done with the dried more delicate parts of a plant. This is like the tea in a tea bag. An infusion is steeped in boiling water, but the water is already boiling and is then poured over the dry herb. The advantage of infusions and decoctions is that the water extract is readily absorbed into the system and is therefore very fast acting. The drawback is that very little fat soluble or resinous ingredients of the herb can come out with just water, especially in an infusion.
There are two sources of powders and granules. The most common source is ground up dry herbs. The second is dried up decoctions of the herb that are then finely ground. The latter concentrates the active ingredients, but may not be as complete as the use of the former. Both can be used as loose powder added to other food, taken like instant coffee or put into capsules for quick and easy swallowing. This is also ideal for portability. Granules are a form of powder but in bigger clumps. This is done by industrial processing through rollers and stirrers in a series while the drying process is occurring. It is thought that the granule form makes the powder keep its potency longer and makes it easier to consume the straight dry product since it doesn't stick like powder.
Pastes, Pills and Suppositories all start with a decoction or a powder or some other form of the herb, mixed with something that makes it: spread easily, make pellets, or in the case of a suppository, be solid and smooth enough to slip into the anus intact where it melts and gets absorbed into the bloodstream similar to how food normally gets absorbed into the blood.
This is an advantage if you don't want the substance to go through the digestive process where it could be broken down before it gets to the blood. Or if the person is so sick that the digestive processes are not working sufficiently. Cocoa butter and/or Coconut oil is usually the thing used to make suppositories because they easily solidify in the cold and just as easily melt in the heat.
Pastes can be made with any number of things such as water or honey added to the herb powder and kneaded. Or a pastey substance can have a tincture or extract added to it. Pastes are stored in a bowl in the refrigerator and taken with a spoon. They can also be used to make poultices.
Pills can be made by making a paste and then drying it. You can take a pinch of paste and roll it into the shape of a pea, fill up a tray with them and dehydrate it in a dehumidifier or oven below 105°. Pills are readily available commercially as well, but here the ingredients used are usually much more complex with, I think, unnecessary ingredients.
Tinctures are made by soaking an herb for an extended period of time in an alcoholic liquid. Over time, due to the objection of alcohol, things like vinegar were used as a substitute and it was then improperly called a tincture.
A tincture is an extract, but an extract is not a tincture. Tinctures are the best because they have the greatest amount of ingredients dissolved and they don't go bad and in fact get better and stronger over time, especially if a little residue is left in the bottom of the bottle.
Your Herbal Medicine Cabinet: Extracts, and Topicals
Historically tinctures were made with fresh herbs just picked at the highest point of potency and extracts were made of dried herbs. One could not tell how long ago the herbs had been dried however, so extracts were not as sure as the good old tincture.
I might as well interject here that the term tonic is more or less a concocted drink of sorts that people put together for stated health purposes. It is not specific as to the kind of ingredients or what kind of health action, but often contains something astringent like alcohol or vinegar. You might imagine a tonic designed simply to make you feel good, regardless of its health benefits. This concept could be where the idea of tonic water originated, as seen in popular drinks like gin and tonic.
Even when used to describe herbal action it is not always clear which definition of tonic is meant. It could mean stimulant, strengthener or something that just makes you feel better regardless of actual biological effect. And even more confusing these can overlap each other like in Ginseng which is all three.
Poultices are pastes that you warm and wet and hold onto the skin with a cloth or bandage.
A Compress is a cloth soaked in an infusion or decoction that is held on an area by the pressure of the hand or a bandage.
A Syrup is usually an extract or a tincture made into a sweet viscous liquid to be taken by the spoon or a dropper.
Lotions and Salves are moisturizing thick or semi solid oils with any form of the herb mixed in and are usually used for the skin.
And that's the basics of herbal preparations! Hope it clarifies.