Liquid Extract
Liquid Extract of herbs or herbal medicines
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Liquid Extract |
| Page Summary: Liquid Extract of herbs or herbal medicines |
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In reality infusions, decoctions, tinctures and teas are all liquid extracts but
the commercial term "liquid extract" refers to a slightly more complex and
costly process of extraction. A liquid extract is made by percolation in water or maceration in alcohol after which they are evaporated in a vacuum to condense or concentrate the liquid (after being filtered). You may want to do this yourself but as you need specialized equipment you are better off following the instructions of the manufacturer rather than try to apply my explanation. Some liquid extracts are even more complicated than that if the desired therapeutic compounds in the herb is volatile and likely to evaporate as fast or even faster than the liquid being evaporated. This calls for even more complex equipment at greater cost. Liquid extracts are evaporated to very specific ratios. For example an extract of 1:1 means that one cc of the liquid contains the liquid extracted from one gram of dried herb. This level of accuracy takes one of the variables out of the equation of dosage but it does not solve all of the dosage concerns as herbs obtained from different sources have differing levels of constituents. Reputable manufacturers of liquid extracts are however very aware of this problem and choose their dried herb very carefully if they do not grow it themselves.
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