The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook_ A Home Manual - James Green [126]
1. Weigh out 85 Gm of white sugar. (This is an adequate amount to experiment with at first.)
2. Place it in a sterilized, dry jar (one of those slender 10 oz. jam or jelly jars is a good one to use).
3. Pour onto the sugar 47 ml of distilled water (see “Meniscus,” Chapter Twenty-Five).
4. Cap the jar tightly and agitate it vigorously.
5. Continue agitating it intermittently throughout the day until the solution is clear.
6. Filter the syrup through a very clean flannel or cotton muslin cloth.
7. Store in a cool location.
8. Check the syrup during the next two or three months to see how it’s doing.
MAKING FLAVORING SYRUPS
Cherry Flavoring Syrup
This makes a brilliant red syrup that is an excellent vehicle for administering bitter preparations. It has a pleasant taste. This syrup is acidic due to the malic acid content of the Cherries.
1. Measure out 50 ml of pure Cherry juice. I dilute and use a Bernard Jensen’s black cherry concentrate purchased from a health food store (years ago).
2. Weigh out 85 Gm of sugar.
3. Mix, and with assistance of a warm water bath, dissolve the sugar in the Cherry juice.
4. A small quantity of alcohol (brandy is best) can be added to help preserve this syrup.
Raspberry Ferment Syrup
Here’s an interesting angle on making a fresh berry syrup appropriate to contrive when the electrical wires that service your home have been demolished and everything else in the refrigerator is also fermenting.
1. Reduce fresh Raspberries to a pulp and let them rest for 3 days.
2. Separate the juice by pressing, and set it aside until it has completely fermented and become clear.
3. Filter the fermented juice.
4. To 3 parts (90 ml or 3 fl. oz.) of the fermented liquid, add 5 parts (150 Gm or 5 oz.) of white sugar.
5. Heat the mixture until the sugar is dissolved and just brought to a boiling point.
6. Bottle in clean bottles, cap, and store in a cool place.
Blackberry Fruit Flavoring Syrup
This is a flavoring syrup having slight astringency.
1. Pick and clean ripe Blackberries.
2. Strongly express the juice.
3. Mix 5 parts sugar with 3 parts juice.
4. Heat the mixture until the sugar is dissolved and just brought to a boiling point.
5. Strain and put hot syrup into sterilized bottles.
6. Cap tightly and store in a cool location.
This nearly saturated sugar solution is supposed to be anti-fermentative, and I have found it to be so; however, be forewarned, it is not anti-ant. Legions of festive six-leggeds will arrive overnight to celebrate each mislaid drop of this seductively saccharine elixir.
The manufacture of syrup is considered from two points of view: first, the method by which the sugar and flavoring is dissolved in the solvent as discussed above, and second, the method by which the medicinal constituent is blended with the sugar and/or flavored syrup as illustrated by the examples below.
There are several methods in which a medicinal constituent(s) is blended with a syrup. These methods can vary with each different medicinal agent, and like making any type of herbal preparation, skill comes from experience complemented by the taking of notes. There are numerous flavored and medicated syrups useful in herbal pharmacy. The following examples will illustrate some basic methods for blending constituents with a syrup.
MEDICATING SYRUPS
Medicating a Simple or Flavored Syrup
A simple syrup can be prepared as directed previously and stored in a cool location, ready for use as a carrying agent. Merely blend a tincture or finely powdered herb into a measured portion of the syrup and administer whenever needed.
A Simply Made Herbal Syrup
1. Begin with an herbal decoction or infusion that has been concentrated to about a half to a third volume (see “Concentrates,” Chapter Twenty-Five).
2. To 500 ml (1 pint) of this concentrate,