Ingredients
Scale
6 cups St. John’s Wort flowers
750ml 80 proof vodka
Instructions
- To make your own St. Johns Wort tincture, gather 6 cups of St. Johns Wort blossoms when the blossoms are open but before they fade. It’s best to pick them in the morning after the dew has dried but before the sun touches the plants.
- Place the St. Johns Wort blossoms in a mason jar and press down to get as many blossoms in the jar as you can, leaving a 2-inch headspace. Fill the jar with vodka. Use a knife to press out any air bubbles and fill to within 1 inch of the rim of the jar. You’ll need about 750 ml/24 fl. ounces of 80 proof vodka to fill a 1 litre/1 quart jar. Cap tightly. Place in a warm place, so that the warmth encourages the plants to release their goodness.
- The vodka will turn ruby red within a few minutes of contact with the flowers. This is the hypericum (there are actually several hypericums in St. Johns Wort.) and is considered the active ingredient in St. Johns Wort, although herbalists believe that the whole plant acts in synergy to create the beneficial healing effects.
- Shake the jar of St. Johns Wort tincture whenever you think of it over the next 4 to 6 weeks.
- Strain out the blossoms reserving the liquid. Squeeze the flowers as much as possible to retain as much of the liquid as you can. Pour into colored glass bottles. Cap and seal. Label the jars and date them. St. Johns Wort tincture, when stored in a cool, dry place, in a dark bottle, will keep for many years.
