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By Root 830 0

these decisions were appropriate. But we lay herbalists are not attempting to make SWAT-drugs, and we are not assembling products designed to sit for an indeterminate amount of time in a medical dispensary (or on health food store shelves) waiting for someone to eventually come along and use them. Instead, we are making preparations that will be used in our homes and community within a year or two, and we are preparing extracts that are to be used as therapeutic agents and tonics which are formulated to promote health and prevent disease by nipping illness in the bud; these do not include highly toxic, acutely dose-specific substances. The herbs used for our purposes are nourishing, not dangerous, and in most cases yield their properties very well to a vinegar menstruum and to a wine menstruum. These two benign solvent-preservatives can adequately infuse our favorite herbs and conserve the herbal products we prepare for our domestic purposes. Bear in mind medicated vinegar has been an important player in official literature throughout medical history. The pharmacopoeias of many countries have included the Four Thieves Vinegar as an official medicine. This renowned compound is composed of vinegar infusions of a wide variety of medicinal plants—Calamus, Camphor, Cinnamon, Clove, Garlic, Nutmeg, Peppermint, Rosemary, Rue, Sage, and Wormwood, to name some that are included in this medical preparation. These plants possess diverse components which have all been successfully (and “officially”) extracted using a simple vinegar menstruum.

When deciding on a menstruum to use for your herbal extracts, keep these things in mind concerning vinegar:

• Pure, naturally fermented vinegar is nontoxic and can be tolerated by just about everyone.

• It is an excellent tonic for the entire digestive tract, and it assists one’s body to regulate its acid/alkaline balance.

• It is a food high in mineral content that tastes good (dilute it or add honey to suit your taste).

• And for those who resist the use of alcohol for whatever reason, vinegar and glycerin are fine alternatives.

I encourage all who enjoy the creative process of medicine-making to experiment with the use of these out-of-fashion, currently “non-official” solvents, especially now that such excellent quality vinegars and wines are being made in the U.S. In the earlier years of the twentieth century, when the medical-pharmaceutical industry discontinued its use of medicated wines, the U.S. wasn’t producing much wine of good quality, especially compared to European imports; therefore, the quality of wine was unreliable. It was also expensive and a bit of a bother to acquire, especially during the politically absurd alcohol prohibition period. But times have changed, and now the currently favored politically contrived contraband is a benign plant; no longer is government intelligence waging its domestic war on a mild menstruum. We can now buy excellent American wines made from delicious grapes grown here organically, and if you check out the vinegar section of your grocery stores you will find that the quality and diversity of this medium is likewise flourishing. This is not surprising seeing as how the fruit sources and the process of wine and vinegar production are so closely related.

A look through the marketplace meets the consumer’s eye with a phenomenal array of vinegar products. One can find peculiar-shaped bottles of vinegar ranging from the acetous low-life, distilled white vinegar (made in about 48 hours in steel tanks from grain alcohol that has been heated, fermented, rapidly oxidized, and often mixed with sulfites, sugar, caramel coloring, and salt), to certified organic, raw, unpasteurized apple cider vinegars (made from the whole apple—not merely the cores and peelings) containing the natural “mother” of vinegar; or to the exotically fragrant and fruitful “balsamic” vinegars bottled with fruits of Strawberry, Blueberry, Cranberry, Pomegranate, or Raspberry; to red and white “wine vinegars” aged from 2 to 6 years in ash, cherry, or mulberry wood casks, to brown