By Admin (Admin) on Tuesday, May 01, 2001 - 01:38 pm: Edit

Here is how to make a Salvia tincture. Please note, I am now using a slightly different method than this which involves using more leaves and then through evaporation concententrating the liquid down until it is half of what it originally was. I then "reconstitute that liquid into the finished product. This allows me to produce a stronger essence. However, the method below is the traditional way to make Salvia or any other tincture and will work fine for personal use. You may of course increase the amount of leaves and also through evaporation concentrate your essences as well.
I do not know how Dan makes his Emerald Goddess Essence, only how traditional tinctures are made. I'm going to give directions for making one 1/2 oz bottle and you can increase the ingredients to make more. If at all possible, I like to start the process so that it is finished on the night of a full moon. You will need a small canning jar with a lid that will seal securely, 1oz of leaves, a tea strainer, the bigger the better, and a small bottle of Everclear.
The following step is optional but recommended as it removes tannins and other undesirable elements from the leaves. Take the leaves and after crushing them, put them into a heat proof container. Then pour about 1 1/4 oz hot, but not boiling water over the leaves. Allow this mixture to set for about 30 minutes. Pour off the water, which will be brown in color and discard it. Dump the leaves in the tea strainer, then rinse with more hot water. Press the leaves, again discard the water, then spread them out in a pie plate or other shallow container to dry some. The leaves do not have to be thoroughly dry for the next step.

Put 1/2 of the leaves leaves in the jar. Leave the other half in the pie plate to continue drying. Pour enough Everclear in the jar to cover the leaves and leave about a 1/4 inch of liquid over the top of the leaves. Shake this mixture up thoroughly at least twice a day. On the evening of the 3rd day, remove and thoroughly press the leaves from the jar. Use a spoon the remove the leaves. You can make a press to squeeze the leaves out of a C clamp, a tin can, a sturdy piece of metal to go between the bottom of the C clamp and the tin can, and a sturdy piece of round metal that will go on top of the leaves you are pressing.

After you have pressed the leaves and removed as much liquid as possible, return the liquid you have squeezed from those leaves to the original jar, then add the 1/2 of the leaves that have been drying to that liquid. Again, shake the mixture at least twice a day for the next 3 days. On the evening of the 6th day strain the liquid from the canning jar though a strainer lined with cheesecloth or floursack material, then press the leaves thoroughly, and add that to the liquid you strained. Strain the this liquid once more through a strainer lined with an automatic coffee filter, and Viola! you have a liquid essence. You should have at least a half oz of liquid left if you have used a good press.

If you are going to make a liquid Essence, it is well worth making or buying a press for this purpose because you lose an enormous amount of liquid in the leaves if you can't press them thoroughly. You can add a little, or a lot of distilled water to this Essence. I use VERY little distilled water, which is why if you use my Essence as a sublingual tincture without diluting it first, it will burn like the dickens. I wanted to make a liquid Essence that you could sprinkle on leaves to enhance their potency, and that would evaporate quickly, so I used hardly any distilled water when preparing the final mixture for bottling.

Here's how I make the 5X enhanced leaves.

To make 1 gram of enhanced leaves, you will need to start with 5 grams of leaves. Crush the leaves thoroughly. Take 1 gram of those crushed leaves and set them aside in an airtight container.

The following step is optional but recommended as it removes tannins and other undesirable elements from the leaves. Put 4 grams of crushed leaves into a heat proof container and pour enough hot but not boiling water over them to cover the leaves and leave about 1/2 inch of water over the leaves. Allow this mixture to set for about 30 minutes. Pour off the water, which will be brown in color, and discard it. Dump the leaves in a tea strainer, then rinse with more hot water. Press the leaves, again discard the water, then spread them out in a pie plate or other shallow container to dry some. The leaves do not have to be thoroughly dry for the next step.

Pour enough Everclear or other alcohol solvent over the leaves so that there is about a 1/4 inch of fluid over the leaves. Let this mixture set for at least 24 hours. I like to let mine set for at least 3 days. Shake the jar thoroughly twice each day. At the end of the third day, strain the liquid off, and press the leaves to remove any more liquid. Pour this liquid into a pie plate, or other shallow container. Let this liquid evaporate until it is about half of what it originally was, then add the 1 gram of leaves you had set aside earlier to this mixture. Stir well, and let the liquid completely evaporate from the leaves. I like to stir the leaves around a few times during the evaporation process to help the liquid evaporate more quickly and more thoroughly.