I would like to make some sort of "preserve" of these. (I have the dried material) Or perhaps the thing that is sweet, I forget the name. Glycerite? I don't have any alcohol.
What do you think about simmering, and making a reduction, and then adding glycerine? And maybe some dired peel for flavour? I have lots of this.
I want a nice liver tonic. Can you advise me in how to do this simply?
Would there be any benefit to simmering, reducing, and then adding ACV, to make a sort of tincture thing?
First of all I would keep the yellow dock to a minimum due to the iron content.
The easiest way to do this would be to boil the roots for 20 minutes. Use two cups of water per spoon full of herbs to prevent the entire thing from gelling. Strain the liquid while still hot and add the glycerin. Simmer the liquid under very low heat to drive off the water. Any remaining water will promote molding. You may even want to add a little antiseptic oil such as clove or thyme to help prevent molding since it will be hard to remove all the water from the polysaccharides.
I you have vacuum distillation equipment this becomes so much easier.
I do not recommend using ACV. This can alter the chemistry of the herbs leaving some very weird tasting mixes. For example, I tried this one with nettle leaf and the nettle leaf came out "pickled".
AH, BUT i CAN ALMOST IMAGINE A PLACE FOR THIS PICKLED NETTLE!
It was too weird tasting for me.
ops, all caps, sory.
thank you.
happy thanksgiving to you!(from the north)
Thanksgiving? We have not even had Halloween yet.
up in Canada, we like to celebrate the harvest while it's still beautiful and 'fallish'.! Not right on the heels of Christmas. :-)
It is not fallish here, still hot in the 90s.
Well Happy Canadian Thanksgiving
would you add the peel, or not?
You can, it will add flavor and the oil will help to stabilize it some.
Just at the end of the simmering?
Correct, you do not want to drive off the essential oil.
(this is one minor way to 'drive off the water..right?)
Yes. You want to get rid as much of the water as possible, preferably all of it.
Just to be clear, boil, then simmer to reduce; then strain the liquid, then add the glycerin LAST...
that is, not adding it, and simmering further... right?
Almost, you still have to simmer the solution a little bit after adding the glycerin to drive off the rest of the moisture. Or at least let it sit in an open container for a while to allow the water to escape off as steam or cool evaporation. You need to get rid of the water though since the water will promote molding without a mold suppressant. This is why I don't fool with trying to make glycerites. Too much hassle even with the proper equipment, which I do have.
If I were to make a glycerite myself I would make the tea, strain it, add the glycerin, put the solution in my vacuum distillation unit and vacuum distill off the water leaving behind only the extracted herbs and glycerin.
sorry to keep on about this...
Does this look like a good method? The 40/60 water glycerine ratio?
It sounds like you're saying to really reduce the liquid to nearly nothing, then add in a lotof glycerine...
You can add the glycerin before removing the water, but you should remove as much of the water as possible. Burdock root and dandelion root in particular are going to be prone to molding if water is present in the final product. This is why I keep emphasizing removing the water.
http://www.morethanalive.com/pages/glycerites
Doesn't driving the water off (open container) also lose minerals?
No, minerals will not evaporate off. It is like scale formation on a pool or aquarium. As the water evaporates the minerals are left behind and concentrate. If too concentrated the minerals precipitate.