One of the best-kept secrets is that most kitchens already have the makings of a fine home apothecary. Ordinary cooking spices such as salt, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, thyme and garlic are the foundations of an herbal medicine cabinet.
When anxious parents call me in the middle of the night to ask what to do for a child suffering from pink eye, I start by asking whether they have rosemary in their spice rack. If they say yes, I tell them to rub some of the leaves between their fingers.
As long as they can smell the classic rosemary scent, the essential oils are still present, even if the herb is several years old. These volatile oils have the power to clear heat (pink = heat) and infection. I then tell them to make a compress (cloth dipped in an herbal infusion and applied to the body) to gently apply over the eyes.
In most cases, medicine-making involves creating extractions, which simply means a preparation that pulls out the plant’s medicinal components into a liquid medium called the menstruum. A tea is a water extraction, a tincture is an alcohol or vinegar extraction, and an herbal oil is an oil extraction.
Each plant has a preferred menstruum depending on its constituents as well as energetics. After a plant
