If you want to create your own herbal medicine chest full of natural treatments for your family's health and wellness, begin by making dandelion tincture. Here's how.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
The hard-working dandelion
One of North America's most recognized edible backyard weeds is the dandelion (taraxacum officinale).
This common backyard week grows all over North America. Use this plentiful and easy-to-find plant for home remedies, cooking, and baking with dandelion recipes.
Recently I've become more intentional about making natural remedies such as elderberry syrup and ginger honey syrup. So foraging dandelions to make tinctures seemed like a natural progression!!
Learn how to make dandelion tincture to add to your home remedies toolkit and why it's such a valuable remedy.
How to Make Dandelion Tincture
Caution: Keep all medicinal plants, natural and herbal remedies and medicines safely out of the reach of children. Talk to your trusted healthcare provider l before using dandelion tincture or dandelion extract. It may interact with other medicines or prompt allergic reactions.
Start by gathering the common weed and wildflowers growing around you. Gather the stem and flower head only, or even the entire plant, including the root.
You can make it in two ways, either with the roots or the whole plant, from root to flower.
I'll give you the instructions for both, but I prefer to use the entire plant as each part has different benefits, making this tincture a great general-purpose "medicine".
You will need the following:
- High quality vodka
- Whole Dandelion plants
Directions for making dandelion tincture
Wash your plants well to remove all dirt, bugs, etc. Scrub roots if needed to be sure they are free of all dirt.
Pat dry with a paper towel.
Chop the roots, stems, and leaves well.
Pack your jar with chopped pieces. You want your jar filled about ⅔ full.
Pour vodka over the pieces to cover them completely.
Put the lid on and shake the contents.
Place the jar in a cool dark spot, shake it every few days, and add more vodka to cover the dandelion pieces.
Let your dandelion tincture sit for about 6-8 weeks to ensure all the goodness gets extracted.
Then it is ready to pour through a cheesecloth-lined funnel or a fine mesh strainer to remove all the solid pieces.
Put your tincture into a dark brown glass bottle and store it in a cool dark place to preserve it.
Medicinal uses of dandelions
Although you may see a dandelion as a pesky weed, this flower is important in traditional medicine.
Healers and natural medicinal experts have recommended dandelion as a medicinal herb for various ailments throughout history.
Traditional Chinese medicine prescribed dandelion-based remedies to treat water retention, kidney ailments, and digestive tract issues. You'll find references to dandelion oil and salve, tea, tincture, and extracts in old herbal remedy books across many cultures.
Even today, in the United States, many herbal teas and products include dandelion root extract. Health food and even large grocery stores routinely stock dandelion supplements, organic dandelion root, and dandelion tea.
Creating a tincture extracts and preserves the medicinal makeup of herbs in a liquid other than water.
Using organic alcohol in your dandelion tincture helps draw out more of the plant's medicinal benefits. And tinctures last longer than a water-based liquid extract. Finally, the alcohol in tinctures allows the best absorption by your body.
Potential health benefits of dandelion
Naturopathic medicine promotes the use of dandelions for the treatment of the following conditions:
- Treat liver disease.
- Treat irritable bowel syndrome.
- To increase energy.
- Acts as a prebiotic.
- Regulate blood sugar.
- Boost the immune system.
- Aids in digestion.
- To relieve gas and heartburn.
- Supports healthy kidney and liver function.
- Treat UTIs.
- Improves skin/complexion.
- Daily dose of dandelion tincture to reduce inflammation.
- Aid in weight loss.
- For gastroesophageal reflux disease.
- Treats bacterial infections.
- To lower cholesterol.
- As a mild laxative.
- To treat electrolyte imbalance.
- For cases of stomach ulcers.
- For gall bladder issues.
- To treat kidney stones.
- To promote healthy hearts.
- as an anti-inflammatory for rheumatoid arthritis.
- Kidney disease (helps improve kidney function).
I like foraging dandelions because we use the entire plant. Fresh roots become dandelion tea or an ingredient in dandelion root tincture. The petals are delicious in dandelion jelly. And dandelion greens are a tasty addition to a summer salad.
Caution: Keep all medicinal plants, natural and herbal remedies and medicines safely out of the reach of children. Talk to your trusted healthcare provider l before using dandelion tincture or dandelion extract. It may interact with other medicines or prompt allergic reactions.
Tincture vs. Extract
What's the difference between a tincture and an extract? It's simple.
How you make it, and the amount of dandelion used. So the preparation methods and concentrations distinguish a simple dandelion tincture from a dandelion leaf extract.
Dandelion tincture usually involves steeping parts of the plant (typically fresh dandelion root or leaves) in an alcohol-based solution. Over time this method preserves a higher concentration of the plant's beneficial compounds.
On the other hand, dandelion extract, a broader category, could use alcohol like tinctures or water for infusions or decoctions, with the extraction process determining its varying concentration levels.
Making dandelion tincture is easy
Creating your own dandelion tincture is not only rewarding, but it also puts you in control of your health.
Tap into this ordinary weed's healing properties, by foraging your own backyard weeds and creating your own herbal remedy. Take the first steps towards becoming more self-reliant and start making your dandelion tincture today.
Using dandelion tincture
For general health, take ½ teaspoon twice a day. To treat indigestion, take 7 - 10 drops diluted in water each hour until the indigestion is gone.
Treat the ailments listed above with 1 teaspoon 2-3 times a day in water.
Dandelion Tincture
Make your own dandelion tincture at home with just two ingredients.
Ingredients
- Fresh dandelions
- Good quality vodka
Instructions
- Wash your plants really well to remove all dirt, bugs, etc.. Scrub roots if needed to be sure they are free of all dirt.
- Pat dry with a paper towel.
- Chop the roots, stems, and leaves well.
- Pack your jar with chopped pieces, you want your jar filled about ⅔ full.
- Pour vodka over the pieces to cover them completely.
- Put the lid on and shake the contents.
- Place the jar in a cool dark spot, shake it every few days, and add more vodka as needed to keep the dandelion pieces covered.
- Your tincture will need to sit for about 6-8 weeks to be sure all the goodness is extracted.
- Once it is done pour through a cheesecloth-lined funnel or a fine mesh strainer to remove all solid pieces.
- Put your tincture into a dark brown glass bottle to preserve it
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Hi Mel! So mine is very dark as well - almost black. I find that many tinctures do have a dark look, almost like vanilla extract. 🙂
What is the end colour suppose to be for the tincture? Mine is really dark. It’s my first time making it. I used vodka and it’s been three months in my closest. I also did one with apple cider vinegar. Just wanting to know if the colours are normal, before I try it. Thanks in advance
It seems to me that my herbalist friend said tinctures generally last around 12 months due to the alcohol acting as a preservative. Although we usually use ours up long before that!
how long does the tincture last?