I’ve meaning to make a big batch of poke tincture for some time. I finally got around to it a couple of months ago.
This poke plant grew against my chicken pen fence. I’ve been watching it for several years. It got really big due to plenty of chicken manure as fertilizer.
Menstruum – alcohol and water mixture used in a tincture, measured in ounces.
Plant material or herb – also measured in ounces.
I made a weight to volume tincture here. One-part fresh herb, Two-parts menstruum.
For a menstruum I use 80 proof vodka in most tinctures I make. 80 proof vodka is 40% alcohol/60% water.
Sometimes if the plant material for a tincture has a really high moisture content the tincture will “sour” or go bad. Some plant material can be 60 even 70% water.
To prevent a tincture from going bad I use a higher than normal alcohol content in the tincture. I keep 100 proof vodka in the house for this purpose (50% water/50%alcohol).
Some special tinctures use an even higher percentage of alcohol. I keep “Ever Clear” in the house which is 190 proof or 95% alcohol. By using Everclear and distilled water I can make a tincture with any ratio of water to alcohol I want.
This spring was really wet, so was the poke root, a higher than normal moisture content. I chose a 50%water 50% alcohol menstruum.
Knowing when to bump up the alcohol content is something only experience can teach, use your best judgement. I have reference material in books I’ve already posted that describe the alcohol ratios to use for special tinctures.
Back to the big ole’ poke root. It was a pain to dig up. Poke roots are usually 5 or 6 pounds, this one weighed 10lbs. I got 3 full quarts of tincture from it. I won’t need to make poke tincture again for a decade.
I use what ever tool or tools to chop plant material. In this case I started with a chainsaw it roughly trim up the poke root. I washed it repeatedly to get all the bits of dirt out of the nooks and crannies.
I used a really sharp Buck knife to peel the outer bark off the root. Next I used a hacksaw with a new blade to slice disks off the root, about as thick as a pancake, 3/16ths to 1/4 inch thick. After that I used a Mezzaluna knife and a razor-sharp Buck hunting knife to dice the root up.
This poke plant grew against my chicken pen fence. I’ve been watching it for several years. It got really big due to plenty of chicken manure as fertilizer.
Menstruum – alcohol and water mixture used in a tincture, measured in ounces.
Plant material or herb – also measured in ounces.
I made a weight to volume tincture here. One-part fresh herb, Two-parts menstruum.
For a menstruum I use 80 proof vodka in most tinctures I make. 80 proof vodka is 40% alcohol/60% water.
Sometimes if the plant material for a tincture has a really high moisture content the tincture will “sour” or go bad. Some plant material can be 60 even 70% water.
To prevent a tincture from going bad I use a higher than normal alcohol content in the tincture. I keep 100 proof vodka in the house for this purpose (50% water/50%alcohol).
Some special tinctures use an even higher percentage of alcohol. I keep “Ever Clear” in the house which is 190 proof or 95% alcohol. By using Everclear and distilled water I can make a tincture with any ratio of water to alcohol I want.
This spring was really wet, so was the poke root, a higher than normal moisture content. I chose a 50%water 50% alcohol menstruum.
Knowing when to bump up the alcohol content is something only experience can teach, use your best judgement. I have reference material in books I’ve already posted that describe the alcohol ratios to use for special tinctures.
Back to the big ole’ poke root. It was a pain to dig up. Poke roots are usually 5 or 6 pounds, this one weighed 10lbs. I got 3 full quarts of tincture from it. I won’t need to make poke tincture again for a decade.
I use what ever tool or tools to chop plant material. In this case I started with a chainsaw it roughly trim up the poke root. I washed it repeatedly to get all the bits of dirt out of the nooks and crannies.
I used a really sharp Buck knife to peel the outer bark off the root. Next I used a hacksaw with a new blade to slice disks off the root, about as thick as a pancake, 3/16ths to 1/4 inch thick. After that I used a Mezzaluna knife and a razor-sharp Buck hunting knife to dice the root up.
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