Echinacea tincture!

I like to have echinacea tincture on hand. However my existing tincture did not survive the move so I have to make more. It is very easy and economical to make your own Echinacea tincture. In fact, I find the only way to dose correctly is to make your own tincture. Using the little bottles from the health food store will drain your bank account faster than a 7 yr old at the state fair. So I made a video showing my process.

So you see I make quite a bit of tincture for the season. Why, you ask? Because I dose very liberally. I use the traditional dosage of 1 drop /every 2# body weight every 2-3 hours in the acute phase, then dropping back to 3 times a day in the resolution phase of an illness. Using store bought tincture at this rate would quickly become cost prohibitive. When making a tincture, I like to use 100 Proof vodka rather than 80 Proof. 100 Proof is 50% water 50% alcohol so you get a balance of water soluble and alcohol soluble constituents and longer preservation since there is a higher percentage of alcohol in the tincture.

But why do you use Echinacea anyway? Echinacea is a traditional remedy for bacterial invasions of many kinds. It's traditional use is with Upper Respiratory Infections and Urinary tract infections however I have seen it used for skin infections and dental infections as well. Echinacea seems to help support the immune systems ability to create macrophages and T cells which fight off infections. It is used in Germany as part of the regular pharmacopeia for mild forms of these infections. It has not however been evaluated by the FDA in the US and is not used to diagnose or treat disease. As with all herbal information on this site, this information is purely for informational purposes only.