Recently I talked about gathering Jewelweed….hopefully some of you were able to find this wonderful plant. Now…what do we do with it? Come with me as I work up the Jewelweed that we gathered! In this post I will cover making a tincture and soon we will talk about oils and salves.
I make all of my Jewelweed soap, salve and tinctures for this young man – who is now 22 and still has poison ivy 360 days out of the year!
The first thing I do is to spread the Jewelweed out as thinly as possible. Elijah and I gathered this in about 10 minutes down by the creek at the base of our mountain this evening. It filled this 6 ft. table in my soap/herb kitchen. I will use half to make a tincture and half to make soap and/or salve.
Because I am using half of the Jewelweed to make an oil, my goal is to let that portion wilt a little so that we don’t have excess moisture in our plant material when we work with it. Jewelweed wilts very quickly so this won’t take long. This is imperative if you are going to be making an oil or salve with the plant. Excess moisture in your plant material can cause mold to occur in your oil or salve. I will let it sit a day or two and then will do a post on making an oil/salve.
The flowers look like this:
Let’s go over how to make a tincture. You can do this immediately after harvesting most plants (there are a few exceptions). You will need Jewelweed, glass jars, lids and 100 proof vodka. As you go through what you gathered you may find little vines wrapped around your Jewelweed – pull them off and discard. They usually come off quite easily. Also discard any brown or discolored leaves.
I usually try to tincture several gallons each summer. I do this so that I am able to give some of this away…invariably I will be at church or a meeting and there will be someone suffering terribly with poison ivy. I pour out a small bottle for them and send them on their way – they are always amazed at how quickly this works!
Next step is to chop the plant material and put it into the canning jars. I use 1/2 gallon jars. Most people will not need that much but then you don’t have to deal with my son who gets poison ivy every time he goes outside….all year long! Sometimes I just tear it up with my hands as I’ve done in this picture. It should resemble the pile to the left of the canning jar.
You want to fill your jars almost to the top but don’t pack the plant material down…just fill them loosely. I add Jewelweed until the plant material is just below the neck of the jar. Notice that there are leaves, stems and flowers…this is important. You want to take the top 15 inches of the plant (often called the aerial parts).
The next step is to cover the herbs with the vodka. I fill them until the vodka is just a hair below the rim of the jar. Then cap them with a lid and ring…you want an air tight top! I buy a very inexpensive vodka – you won’t be drinking it – just applying it topically!
As you can see – the jar is loosely filled with Jewelweed and covered with vodka.
Now…MAKE A LABEL!! Do not stop…do not pass go….do not sneeze….stop and make a label RIGHT NOW!!! If you don’t you will not know what you have….make a label! The label should contain the following information….name of herb, date, where gathered and your medium (100 proof vodka) and in the case of Jewelweed please remember to add that this is for external use only! Jewelweed contains harmful compounds if it isn’t cooked. So my label will read:
“Jewelweed, 100 proof vodka, 8/17/20, Gap Creek, DO NOT TAKE INTERNALLY!! TOPICAL USE ONLY!!
The date is also vitally important because you don’t want to use this for 30 days. The liquid in this tincture is going to turn a lovely dark red after 30 days….I have taken a picture of a finished tincture to show you.
Isn’t it beautiful?
Put your tincture away in a dark cupboard or pantry for 30 days. If you are in the pantry for something else, give the jar a good shake. I tip mine over and back up a couple of times. If you forget to do this the world will not end…I promise!
You can begin using this in 30 days. I usually wait until I need it….then I pour out enough to fill a small amber glass spray bottle, which I also keep in my pantry. Label the small bottle just as you labeled the large jar! I’ve still got to get the labels on my jars. Once you have poured off enough from the large jar that it leaves part of the plant material showing, it is time to strain the entire bottle. You don’t want it to mold on you and ruin your product. The Amber bottles below have completed tincture in them. The two jars on the left are the ones I made tonight.
Take a stainless steel or ceramic strainer (no aluminum or plastic please!), line it with sterilized cheesecloth and place it in a stainless steel or ceramic bowl. Pour the entire contents into the strainer. Let the liquid flow through until all that is left in the cheesecloth is the plant material. Now, gather up that cloth and squeeze every drop of liquid you can from the plant…I often have one of my older boys come do this after I have had a go at it. Their hands are much larger and stronger than mine and I am amazed at how much more liquid they can squeeze out of something that I thought was dry!
Then you will place this wonderful liquid into a dark brown bottle to store the remainder. If you are making huge amounts, keep the extra liquid in large canning jars and place them where they aren’t exposed to light. However, you should still have a brown (or blue) bottle in which to keep the portion of tincture that you are currently using. REMEMBER TO LABEL ALL THE BOTTLES!!!
Congratulations…you just made a “simpler’s” tincture! Now…you may be asking…how do I use this? Remember….we do NOT ingest this tincture….we wash with it. If you have been out and even think you might have had contact with poison ivy….come home and wash all exposed skin with this….it helps break the bond of the urushiol oil from your skin. Use a cotton cloth – old sheet material is best – something that does not absorb a lot of liquid – no need to waste this precious stuff.
If you break out with poison ivy, spray this on the breakout several times during the day. For really stubborn patches, or large patches, I have soaked a cotton cloth with this and then placed it on Elijah’s arm and bandaged it into place. When it dries out I re-apply as necessary.
It has greatly shortened the length of an outbreak and the severity. What used to take weeks to resolve…now takes a week or less…sometimes just a few days.
Let me know if you make this tincture!
Thanks, Cheri!!!
Thank you for this helpful and detailed information! I’ve made the jewelweed soap and already used some on a poison ivy spot on my arm. I put the soap bar directly on the spot and rubbed it in twice a day for 3 days. It stopped the itch and healed much faster than normal. My tincture is just now 30 days old, and still very dark green. How long till it turns red? My other question was about staining. I noticed my hands were pretty green after squeezing out the jewelweed after straining. It did wash out after about 3 hand washings. I was wondering about spraying the tincture on skin. Does either color (green or red tincture) stain skin or clothing?
Hi Rhonda,
Are you sure you used Jewelweed? Did you use the top 15 inches or so including flowers? It should have turned color pretty quickly and definitely by 30 days it should be a dark red color. If it isn’t then I’m concerned that you found something other than Jewelweed. We have not had any issue with my tincture staining clothes but we are not typically getting clothes wet either. My tincture has never stained the skin.
This is a topical tincture so yes…it goes on the skin – don’t ingest it at all! We fill small spray bottles and spray the outbreak several times a day and let it air dry. Anytime you are straining green plant material and squeezing out all of the menstrum, you hands are going to get stained – consider it a badge of honor for taking steps to become more self-sufficient in your health care 🙂
Great info… Thank you! I just made my very first tincture ever last night and it happened to be Jewelweed tincture. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find wild growing JW nearby so I ordered fresh plants from someone online. They arrived ‘viable’ but not fresh as if pulled from ground…shipping took about 4-5 days.
I think/hope the result will be good. I used 100 proof vodka and have two 1/2 gallon mason jars going now. I used the ENTIRE plant including roots, etc. I hope that will be alright. I guess I should strain it out in about 6-8 weeks.
Even though I didn’t find your post here prior to making my tincture, I appreciate you sharing and will keep it bookmarked for the future. 🙂
Hi Russ,
I’ve never used the roots in my tincture – roots need to be tinctured a bit differently (and much longer) than the aerial parts of the plant. Fresh is always best – jewelweed wilts very quickly – by the time I pick and get back up to the house from our mountain they have wilted quite a bit. It will be interesting to see how yours turns out! Please let me know!
Blessings,
Cheri
Thanks for your reply Cheri. As I noted, I’m new to this. Since you mention roots need longer to tincture… Is there any issue/problem with letting the whole thing(including all the aerial parts) tincture for say 3-4 months? I definitely don’t want to ruin this tincture.
Thank you
P.S. I did not receive and email notifying me of your reply. I just happened to still have the page open. I should get an email, right?
It will not hurt the aerial parts to sit in the tincture longer. I think that is a good plan! Replies to comments on posts happen right here!
Blessings
Cheri
Ok… So is there an amount of time that is considered “Too long”? I.e. If I don’t end up getting PI again until next May, is it alright to leave it all in there that long without removing/straining?
Thanks for your help!!
Russ,
Yes…I often leave tinctures sit until I need them. It is perfectly fine to leave it there. Roots need to be chopped or shaved – more surface exposure to the alcohol creates a more potent tincture. Using them whole is not very effective. Also, know that Jewelweed is toxic so don’t use internally. It is perfectly safe to use it topically 🙂
My son has been suffering terribly for 2 wks. Been to Dr. which didnt help at all. Where can I buy this tinture? We are desperate.
I don’t know if you can buy this! It is something you make! Are you in TN?
I have seen Jewelweed tincure for sale on Etsy but have never purchased it from anyone. A few listings I’ve seen were quite pricey for just 1oz but ymmv. That’s why I’m trying to make a fairly large quantity to have on hand but mine won’t even be ready for months.
Something that I found helped a TON when I had PI recently was Jewelweed soap.. You can also get this homemade from people on Etsy. I have an extra bar just to be ready.
I hope this helps wish your son the best in his recovery… PI itching is torturous..
Russ, I’m with you. I would not purchase a tincture from someone I did not know. It should NOT be expensive. Tinctures are not expensive to make unless you were using some very unusual plant. Jewelweed is very common.
I make a soap for PI called Sweet Relief. Before I started making soap I bought Jewelweed soap many times. VERY expensive and just not effective. I make my soap with Jewelweed and it is very effective at drying things up quickly. It also helps with the itch. It will be available for sale again in November. I make it year round.
I appreciate your kind thoughts for my son – I think he literally has it 360 days a year….he’s a hiker and he works on the farm so it’s unavoidable. The soap, tincture and salve keep him going!
Blessings,
Cheri