Hawthorn recipes for the Heart

As previously mentioned (see: Hawthorn article), ripe Hawthorn berries are the best thing for your heart. They help out with almost every heart condition including blood pressure, cholesterol levels, vascular diseases, etc. Here are some Medicinal recipes to help out your heart that use hawthorn:



Hawthorn Infused Herbal Tea
To help with practically all heart conditions, try out this herbal tea:
*Infuse 2 teaspoons of berries (fresh or dried) for 20 minutes in 1 cup of boiling water and drink 1 cup up to 3 times a day for an extended period of time. For exceptionally high blood pressure, combine hawthorn berries with yarrow because yarrow dilates peripheral blood vessels.


Hawthorn Tincture
Tinctures are super concentrated liquid extracts with extra strength. If you don't like the taste of herbal teas, you can make tinctures for practically any herb and hide the taste by putting a few drops of the tincture in juice while still getting the medicinal results. Here's what you do:

In most cases you should choose to make alcohol tinctures because of its superior qualities. Alcohol will extract volatile oils and most alkaloids from your herbs and will preserve your tinctures longer. Most herb tinctures will maintain their potency for many years. A selection of dried herbs in your medicine cabinet has a shelf life of approximately one year. Alcohol also acts as a carrier for your herbs causing them to be rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream when you take them.

If you don't wish to consume alcohol it is possible to put the required dosage into a cup of boiled water. The heat will cause the alcohol to evaporate leaving the therapeutic qualities of the herb in the water. For recovering alcoholics, liver problems, children or sensitivity to alcohol it is possible to make your tinctures using vegetable glycerin or raw vinegar. Both glycerin and vinegar tinctures will be less potent and have shorter shelf lives.

To make an alcohol tincture you will need the herb, 100 proof alcohol and a labeled glass jar. An alcohol tincture is most often 50% alcohol and 50% water. 100 proof vodka naturally contains the appropriate ratios of water to alcohol. You can use gin, brandy or rum if you prefer. Do not use isopropyl rubbing alcohol which is very toxic when ingested!

Choose fresh plants for making your tinctures whenever possible. Fresh plants may contain properties that are lost or altered when the plant is dried. Dried herbs may be used when they are of good quality. Do not harvest plants that have been exposed to pesticides, herbicides, car emissions and other toxic substances.

Manually remove any dirt from your plants. Chop the plants up into small pieces so that the alcohol will be able to contact a lot of surface. Sometimes a blender is useful for the chopping hard roots. Use 100 proof vodka if you need liquid in the your blender to chop the herbs effectively.

Place the chopped herbs in a glass jar and cover with alcohol plus another inch of alcohol above the level of the herbs. Shake the mixture well to expose all the surfaces to the alcohol. Label the jar with the contents and the date. 

If you make your tincture using dried herbs they may absorb a lot of alcohol in the first couple days. If this happens simply add enough alcohol to cover the herbs again. Shake your tincture everyday throughout the next six weeks. 

If necessary, you may begin to use your tincture after two weeks but allow at least six weeks extraction time before straining. I often leave my herbs in the alcohol much longer than six weeks and strain it only when I've taken out enough tincture to expose some of the herbs to air. It is convenient if you have small amber dropper bottles to put your finished tinctures in so you can easily carry them with you and measure dosages. 


Dosage for hawthorn tincture is 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon 3 times per day

This tincture information was located at:  
http://www.wildroots.com/herbal.htm

For additional information, see: references and warnings