E is for Emergency: How To Make Echinacea Tinctures
A few weeks ago, I woke up to feed a screaming baby and noticed flu like symptoms: high fever, achy body, runny nose and a head that felt like it was going to explode. I fell back asleep immediately and hoped it was all a bad dream. But when I got up in the morning my symptoms were worse.
As soon as I took a dropper full of my homemade echinacea tincture my 102+ degree fever broke, my head began to clear up and I actually got a few things done around the house. Throughout the day my symptoms came back and I chased them away with the tincture. The next morning, I was all better.
What is Echinacea?
Echinacea is a beautiful plant, part of the daisy family, that’s been used for hundreds of years by Native Americans and civilizations across the Americas. It’s used widely in herbal medicine for its antibiotic properties as well as its ability to heal wounds.
Studies have been done on echinacea to attempt to verify if it works. But there are so many variables, the nine different types of echinacea, the plant vs. the root, the strength of the tincture or extract, etc. What has been proven is that echinacea raises our white blood count which boosts our immune system.
Echinacea Tincture and its Uses
At the first sign of a cold, flu or any kind of sickness I reach for my echinacea tincture and I continue to take it until I’m feeling better. Echinacea isn’t the kind of thing you want to take every day though, your body gets used to it after a while so it becomes less effective.
Echinacea can be used to help alleviate a sore throat, coughs, headaches and pain. It’s also been used by midwives on umbilical cord stumps to prevent infection and bacteria growth as well as speeding up healing.
How to Make Echinacea Tinctures
Making a tincture is easy, fun and cost effective. It’s much cheaper in the long run to make your own tincture than to keep buying it at the store! All you need is a jar, dried echinacea and alcohol. Simply place dried echinacea in your jar and submerge in alcohol, cap the jar and let it sit for a few weeks. After 2-6 weeks, strain off the echinacea and put the liquid in a clean jar.
Take a dropper full of your echinacea tincture at the first sign of illness. Continue up to 6 times a day until you begin to feel better.
Whenever you’re feeling under the weather remember, E is for Emergency and take your echinacea tincture! Want to learn more about home remedies, tinctures and harvesting wild plants for your medicine cabinet? Check out Tera’s program, Healthy Homesteader.