The Elixir of Life might be a thing of myth and legends, but, did you know that there are medicinal elixirs in herbalism? And, they are simpler than you might expect!
In short, elixirs are basically tinctures with honey. The honey adds a sweetness to otherwise bitter herbs and make the medicine much more palatable. Even the most reluctant may be inclined to use herbal medicine if it has a nice flavor. Besides the sweetness, honey adds a lot of healing properties to the elixir too. I think for this reason a humble tincture gets the fantastic name of elixir. More on the medicine of honey below.
The ingredients are quite simple, vodka, honey, herbs + a clean glass jar. Just like any herbal recipe, there are tons of variations in the recipe. Some people use brandy instead of vodka and the amount of honey varies with each herbalist.
Yesterday I disinfected my jars and lids by boiling them for 10 minutes then letting them dry out in the oven before capping them until I was ready to make elixirs. I chose to make a small amount of a lot of different herbs that I have dried that I want to use up before spring. I made elixirs with dried roses, hawthorn blossoms, and linden flowers.
These three herbs are all flowers and a bit sweet in their own way. To be honest in this case I was looking to make delightful medicine to keep warm and cheery during winter.
To make a tincture of elixirs I use fresh or dried herbs, or a combination of both fresh and dried plant material. Right now there isn't much by way of fresh herbs to harvest though I may use fresh orange peel in a couple of weeks when I harvest citrus for making jam.
To make a tincture using the "folk medicine method" it really is as simple as filling the jar about halfway with the herbs. The herbs should be lightly filling the jar rather than packed in so that they have space to soak up the vodka and honey.
First I added the vodka (or brandy could be used as well) and filled the jar to nearly the top.
Lastly, I added a couple of spoonfuls of honey per jar. I used raw honey that is locally sourced in the valley where I live. Honey is superior that sugar for sweetening as it doesn't provoke the spike in insulin that is a result of consuming sugar, especially white sugar.
Besides adding a sweetening factor, honey soothes the throat and digestive tract, this is especially so with natural cough syrup made by soaking herbs in honey. By combining herbs + alcohol + honey I am hoping to make the most of the antioxidants that raw honey provide and help us combat the trials and tribulations that comes along with winter weather.