The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook_ A Home Manual - James Green [52]
Vinegar and wines are made from plants that can grow in most any garden, and their organic nature in turn can render remarkably efficient menstrua for us to use for making healthful foods, herbal tonics, and reliable medicines—at home. When you grow medicinal plants in your garden and also learn to use the wild plants that grow near your home, you don’t need to preserve herbal extracts for years on end. These plants come to you anew every year, so you can make fresh extracts seasonally. You only need to preserve these for a relatively short time. This is a different rhythm of perception we can move to, a cyclic, seasonal rhythm that is unending. Herbalism encourages us to relax into a healthful sense of well-being with a deep awareness of Nature’s nourishing, perpetual abundance.
Glycerin is not a carbohydrate and contains no sugar. Taken internally it is slowly absorbed into the bloodstream, then slowly metabolized by the liver. Due to this slow process, glycerin does not cause any appreciable blood sugar imbalances.
GLYCERIN
Glycerin (a.k.a. glycerine) is the sweet fraction of a fixed oil. It is found in all true fats (except cholesterol, which is a fat containing no glycerin) and oils, of both vegetable and animal origin. Glycerin was discovered in the late 1700s and came into use in medicine and pharmacy in the mid-1800s. It is produced through a remarkably complex process that decomposes fats in a large digester. After several hours of a bizarre relationship between the fat, the water, and 150 pounds of steam pressure involving constant agitation, the fat’s glycerin fraction is ultimately separated from its fatty acids. The glycerin is distilled out, purified, condensed, and collected for use. Much of the vegetable glycerin available to us is derived from coconut oil. There are also glycerin products derived from animal fat and synthetically contrived from trichlorpropane, which is a petroleum product. Investigate your sources.
Chemically, glycerin belongs to the class of alcohol, and is termed glycerol or glyceric alcohol. However it is a tri-atomic alcohol and contains no ethyl alcohol or methyl alcohol which are di-atomic alcohols having dramatically different characteristics. Glycerin is not a carbohydrate and contains no sugar. Taken internally it is slowly absorbed into the bloodstream, then slowly metabolized by the liver. Due to this slow process, glycerin does not cause any appreciable blood sugar imbalances. Glycerin is a valuable solvent and preservative agent in medicine-making. Some authorities say it is second only to alcohol in these respects, having a solvent power about half the strength of pure ethyl alcohol. This would make it an excellent choice as a solvent for herbs and roots that respond well to a menstruum having a lower solvent power. In my experience, I find its range of solvency less extensive than either water or alcohol. The beauty of glycerin is that it is capable of mixing with both water and/or alcohol, so its qualities can be easily combined with both. Glycerin is clear, odorless, has an agreeable sweet flavor, a thick, syrupy, stable consistency, produces a sensation of warmth to the skin and tongue, remains stable when heated, is antibacterial, and will extract a variety of constituents that make it useful in cases where neither water nor alcohol are appropriate. It is a notable substitute for alcohol in the menstrua of extracts given to alcohol-intolerant individuals. It can be used to prepare children’s tonics or to use with plants that have relatively large amounts of ligneous (woody) fiber; water expands these gummy and/or glutinous materials far more