Why herbs?
Medicinal Plants and Herbs contain substances known to modern and
ancient civilizations for their healing properties. Until the development
of Chemistry and, particularly, of the synthesis of Organic Compounds
in the 19 Century, Medicinal Plants and Herbs where the sole source
of active principles capable of curing man's ailments. They continue to
be important to people that do not have access to modern medicines
and, moreover, modern pharmaceuticals rely heavily on the same
active principles, be they natural or synthetic. The active principles
differ from plant to plant due to their bio-diversity, i.e. to the plant's
genetic coding ability to produce them. No wonder that bio-diversity is
a fundamental topic on any Nature Preservation agenda since so many
active principles have not yet been discovered or fully evaluated. The
genetic material of old and new herbs and plants are coveted for their
potential in discovering, combining, manipulating and synthetising new
medicine. Thus, Medicinal Plants and Herbs even if people are not
aware of or if the Pharmaceutical Industry does not stress the point,
continue to be the source of proven medicaments or of new and
revolutionary drugs. If the active principles of synthetic drugs are so
important and can be found in many plants and herbs cheaply and
easily bought at your Home Market or Herbalist, why not use them?
If taken in the appropriate dose and form, they can be as effective as
pharmaceutical drugs.
Usual forms of medicinal remedies
1) Infusions
Infusions are a simple way of extracting the active principles of herbs
through the action of hot water. The preparation of infusions is similar
to way we prepare tea. This method is used to extract the volatile
components of the dried or green aerial parts of herbs and plants like
flowers and leaves. Infusions may use single herbs or a blend and are
drunk hot or cold. Certainly this is the most common and cheap
method of extracting the medicinal compounds of herbs.
2) Decoctions
Roots, barks and fruits being thicker and less permeable than the
aerial parts of medicinal plants, do not liberate their active principles
by simple infusion. It is necessary to simmer these parts in boiling
water in order to extract their medicinal constituents. The material
should be cut or broken into small pieces. In order to avoid loosing
volatile constituents, use a lid over the simmering pan. After cooling
down and separating the solid from the liquid, decoctions can be taken
hot or cold.
3) Tinctures
Most of the volatile components of medicinal plants and herbs are
soluble in alcohol. By immersing dried or fresh parts of plants in
alcohol, the active principles are easily extracted at concentrations
that exceed those that can be achieved by infusion or decoction.
Highly concentrate solutions that will last for one to two years are a
convenient way to store and use medicinal plants constituents. Ideally
tinctures should be made using pure ethyl alcohol distilled from
cereals. However, since this product is not available to the public,
good Vodka with 45-35% alcohol can be used. The extraction is fairly
quick. A 50% mixture of herbs and alcohol kept in a tightly closed jar
will held a tincture ready for use at the prescribed dosage. Never use
methyl alcohol, methylated spirits, isopropyl alcohol or any other kind
of unknown spirit to make tinctures.
4) Syrups
With some rare exceptions, like peppermint that is a familiar flavoring
agent in toot paste and chewing gum, infused or decocted herbs are
not palatable, specially for children. In order to disguise their taste,
infusion and decoctions can be mixed with honey or unrefined sugar
from cane. These syrups combine the soothing action of these solvents
to the medicinal properties of the infusions and decoctions resulting in
additional benefits specially for treating cough and sore throats.
5) Infused Oils
Pure vegetable oils like sunflower, almond and olive oil are easily
found at grocer stores. They have the property of dissolving the
active, fat-soluble active principles of medicinal plants and herbs. This
process is called infusion and can be carried out at high or room
temperature. Infusion is a slower process than alcohol extraction but
has the advantage of resulting in an oil based solution of medicinal
constituents that can easily be used to make creams and ointments.
Hot infusion is recommended for the harder parts of the plants while
cold infusion is more suitable for flowers and leaves.
6) Essential Oils
Essential oils are the volatile oily components of aromatic plants,
trees and grasses. They are found in tiny glands located in the flowers
(neroli), leaves (eucalyptus), roots (calamus), wood (sandal) and resins
(frankincense). Essential oils are extracted by four main methods:
steam distillation, expression, solvent extraction and efleurage. In the
first method the oil is extracted by the action of hot steam and then
selectively condensed with water from which it is separated. In the
second method the oil is extracted by pressure or centrifugation. In
the third method the oil is dissolved in a volatile solvent that when
evaporated leaves a heavily natural wax substance called concrete.
When separated from the wax, the resulting liquid is called an
absolute, the most concentrated from of aroma available. Efleurage is
a longer process involving the dissolution of the oils in animal fat and
its separation using alcohol. Although essential oils main usage is in
cosmetics and perfumery, many of them do have comproved
therapeutic properties.
7) Ointments
Ointments are prepared like hot infused oils, the difference being that
herbs are simmered in waxes or fats containing no water. After
separating the simmered herbs by squeezing and cooling, the result is
a solid mixture of the wax or fat with the medicinal constituents of the
plant. Petroleum jelly, soft paraffin wax and bee's wax are some
common bases used. Ointments form a oily barrier on the surface of
injuries and carry the active principles to the affected area.
8) Creams
Creams are mixtures of oils or fats with water. Since water and oils
are not miscible, it is necessary to add an emulsifying agent that
avoids their separation. Creams are therefore stable emulsions of oils
or fats. Adding or making creams with medicinal plants in form of
tinctures, infusions, oil infusions, essential oils or decoctions adds to
creams medicinal properties. Creams are permeable allowing the skin
to breathe and sweat. Their water content and some additional
hydrophobic agent like glycerin promotes the hydration and cooling of
the skin.
