Actually many herbalist have been using a combination of water and alcohol to make their tinctures for years without problems. I cant remember exactly but there is a percentage alcohol below which is not safe.

There are certain advantages to using a mixture of alcohol and water for making tinctures, the main one being that different compounds dissolve in water than in alcohol. If you are making a tincture of an herb, like Black Cohosh, who's medicinal components are mostly oil / alcohol soluble then using a higher proof menstruum (extracting liquid) is in order. However, for many herbs such as Oregon Grape using a 50/50 Alcohol / Water menstruum will extract both alcohol and water soluble components which is highly desirable.

Here at the late Michael Moore's SWSBM site there are recommended alcohol percentages (as well as applications, dosages, parts of plants to use, etc) for most tinctures.

www.swsbm.com/ManualsMM/HerbTinct3.txt

Here is another useful menstruum chart:

www.risingstarmusic.com/laughi...art.pdf

St John's Wort should be tinctured fresh and with a higher alcohol content 75-100%.

If you are not familiar with Michael Moore's clinical manuals they are not only free but extremely useful and found here:

www.swsbm.com/ManualsMM/MansMM.html

And there is tons of information on his home page as well:

www.swsbm.com/HOMEPAGE/HomePage.html

I might suggest that if you use any of Michale's information that you make a small donation to help keep them available for the future:

www.mooreandmore2009.com/id26.html

All the best,


D