Almost everything we grow at La Ferme À Ciel Sur Mer leaves the farm as a dried herb, and a dried herb is only the starting point. What you do with it next depends on the part of the plant and on what you want to pull out of it. Leaves and flowers steep in hot water. Roots need a simmer. Alcohol reaches things water cannot. Oil carries a herb onto the skin. This guide lays out the five basic home preparations, infusions, decoctions, tinctures, infused oils and salves, with the ratios and times we use, so you can pick the right method for the herb in your hand.
Each of our herbs has its own detailed recipe elsewhere on the blog. Here you will find the method itself, one worked example per method from our own fields in Charlevoix, Québec, and a short safety section that applies to all of them. Where a herb has its own post, we link to it rather than repeat it. If you are just setting up your shelf, our guide to starting a home apothecary covers what to buy first, and how to store dried herbs covers keeping them potent once they arrive.
Choosing a Method: Plant Part and Solvent
Two questions decide the method. First, which part of the plant is it? Soft parts such as leaves and flowers give up their constituents to hot water in minutes. Dense parts such as roots, bark and seeds need heat and time, which is what a decoction provides. Second, what does the herb hold? Water draws out minerals, mucilage and most of the flavour compounds. Alcohol draws out resins, alkaloids and the aromatic components that water only partly reaches. Oil carries the fat-soluble and aromatic constituents you want on the skin. Match the solvent to the constituent and the method mostly chooses itself.
A quick map using the herbs we grow:
- Hot infusion (tea): nettle, tulsi, chamomile, lemon balm, peppermint, anise hyssop, calendula flowers.
- Cold infusion: marshmallow root and leaf, and any herb where you want the mucilage rather than the bitterness.
- Decoction: echinacea root, dandelion root, angelica root, sweetflag root.
- Tincture: lemon balm, skullcap, milky oats, echinacea root, tulsi.
- Infused oil and salve: calendula, and for the kitchen, peppermint, mountain mint or anise hyssop in olive oil.
Infusions: Hot Water for Leaves and Flowers
An infusion is a tea. Use one to two teaspoons (roughly one to two grams) of dried herb per 150 to 250 ml cup, pour over water just off the boil, cover so the aromatic compounds stay in the cup rather than in the kitchen, and steep five to fifteen minutes before straining; ten minutes is the figure Health Canada's herb monographs use. Covering matters more than most people expect for herbs like peppermint and anise hyssop, whose character sits in volatile oils. For a stronger, mineral-rich cup, many herbalists make a long infusion, a folk convention rather than a pharmacopoeial one: about 28 grams of dried herb in a litre of just-boiled water, capped in a jar and left four to ten hours or overnight. That method has its own post, how to make a nourishing herbal infusion, and it is the way we drink our Organic nettle.
Some herbs are better infused cold. Marshmallow root is the clear case: its mucilage dissolves readily in cold or room-temperature water, and a cold extraction stays clear and silky without pulling out starch and bitterness. Health Canada's marshmallow monograph gives 30 minutes in cold water with frequent stirring; a longer steep of four to eight hours, which is how we make it, gives a thicker cup. Cover one to two teaspoons of dried root with 250 to 350 ml of cold water either way. Our marshmallow root tea guide walks through both versions, and the root itself is our Organic marshmallow root. For everyday hot infusions, tulsi, chamomile and lemon balm are the three most people start with.
Decoctions: A Simmer for Roots, Bark and Seeds
Roots do not give up much to a ten-minute steep. A decoction puts the cut root into cold water, brings it to a simmer and holds it there, covered, for ten to thirty minutes depending on how coarse the pieces are, then strains. About five to ten grams of cut dried root per 500 ml of water is a normal strength, and you can simmer it down further for a more concentrated liquid. Keep the pot covered and the heat low; a rolling boil drives off the volatile compounds you were trying to keep. Refrigerate any leftover and use it within a couple of days.
On our farm the decoction herbs are the roots: echinacea angustifolia root, dandelion root, angelica root and sweetflag. The one root we do not decoct is marshmallow, for the reason above: heat works against its mucilage. Our echinacea tea guide covers the root decoction alongside the flower and leaf infusion, if you want to compare the two on one herb.
Tinctures: Alcohol Extracts That Keep for Years
A tincture is a herb extracted in alcohol and water. Alcohol reaches constituents that water leaves behind, the finished extract is concentrated enough to take by the dropper, and at 40% alcohol it stays microbially stable for years in a cool, dark cupboard (three to five is the usual convention), even though some constituents decline measurably within the first year. The home method is simple: chop the herb, cover it with spirit in a clean jar, seal, label with the date and the ratio, and leave it four to six weeks, shaking it every day or two. Strain through cheesecloth into an amber bottle.
The ratio is written as herb weight to liquid volume. For dried herb, one part herb to five parts alcohol, written 1:5, in ordinary 40% vodka is the standard starting point (1:5 is also the tincture strength Health Canada's calendula monograph lists), and it is what we suggest for dried lemon balm, skullcap and milky oats. Fresh herb carries its own water, so it needs a tighter ratio and a stronger spirit: 1:2 to 1:3 in something well above 40%, with fresh milky oat tops calling for the highest-proof food-grade alcohol you can buy. Each of those has its own step-by-step post: milky oats tincture, echinacea tincture, skullcap tincture and the tincture section of how to use lemon balm.
If you want to avoid alcohol, a glycerite uses vegetable glycerin as the solvent. It tastes sweet, is the form herbalists commonly reach for with children and people who do not drink, and extracts the water-soluble constituents well, though it is weaker on resins; the working convention is to keep the finished glycerite at least 55 to 60% glycerin and to expect one to two years of shelf life rather than many. Herbal vinegars work the same way with apple cider vinegar and are the traditional choice for mineral-rich leaves like nettle, with a shelf life closer to six months to a year, longer refrigerated.
Infused Oils and Salves: Herbs for the Skin
An infused oil is a herb steeped in a carrier oil such as olive or sunflower. Use fully dried herb: fresh plant material carries water into the oil, which invites mould and, in oil, a botulism risk. Fill a clean jar loosely with the dried herb, cover it with oil by two to three centimetres, and either leave it in a sunny window for two to six weeks (the solar method) or warm it gently for a few hours over a double boiler or in a slow cooker on its lowest setting, keeping it under about 50 °C and never hot enough to fry the plant. Strain, bottle, and expect six to twelve months, a common herbalist estimate; what actually sets the limit is the carrier oil going rancid, so olive oil, which oxidizes slowly, keeps longest. Calendula is the classic oil herb, and our calendula oil guide covers both methods in detail with our own dried flowers.
A salve is that oil thickened with beeswax so it stays put on the skin. Roughly one part beeswax to four or five parts oil, which for us is about 28 grams of beeswax per 250 ml of strained infused oil, gives a spreadable salve; melt the two together over low heat (beeswax melts at roughly 62 to 65 °C), pour into tins, and test the set by cooling a spoonful before you commit the whole batch. More wax makes a firmer balm, less makes a softer one. The full recipe is in our calendula salve post.
The same oil method works in the kitchen. A jar of olive oil warmed with dried peppermint, mountain mint or anise hyssop makes a finishing oil for vegetables and grains; handle it as food, refrigerated and used within a few weeks.
Poultices and Compresses
The oldest preparations need no jar at all. A poultice is the herb itself, crushed fresh or rehydrated from dried with a little hot water, laid directly on the skin and held with a cloth. A compress is a cloth soaked in a strong infusion or decoction and applied warm or cool. Both are made for the moment and discarded, which makes them a good use for small amounts of dried leaf on hand.
We reach for peppermint or calendula this way most often, and for anything on broken skin we stay with calendula, the one of our herbs with a Health Canada topical monograph. Patch-test on the inner arm first with any topical preparation.
Equipment, Labels and Keeping Track
You need less than you think: clean glass jars with tight lids, a kitchen scale (tincture and oil ratios are built on weight), a fine strainer and cheesecloth, amber dropper bottles, tins for salves, and labels. Write the herb, the date, the ratio and the solvent on every jar the day you make it. Six months on, an unlabelled brown bottle gets thrown out.
Store everything cool, dark and dry. Alcohol tinctures are the long keepers; oils and salves come next; glycerites, vinegars and water preparations are the short ones, and a decoction or infusion belongs in the refrigerator and in your cup within a day or two. The dried herbs themselves keep best in sealed glass away from light, the subject of our storage guide.
Starting With Good Dried Herb
Every method above is only as good as the herb going into it. Fresh herbs suit a same-week tincture or a poultice but lose potency fast; a well-dried herb is the practical base for most home preparations and holds its character for about a year when stored properly. Look for colour that still resembles the living plant, a scent you can pick up from the open bag, and leaves, flowers or root pieces that are intact rather than dust. Ours are grown certified Organic in Charlevoix, cut when each herb is at its best, and dried at low heat on the farm. You can browse what we grow to see which method each herb suits.
A Note on Safety
In Canada, herbal products sold commercially are regulated by Health Canada as natural health products, and a licensed product carries an eight-digit Natural Product Number on its label. What you make at home is not a licensed product, which is not a problem, but it does mean the dose, strength and safety checks are yours to manage. Start with small amounts, one new herb at a time, and keep notes.
If you take prescription medication, talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist before adding herbal preparations; some herbs and medicines interact. Health Canada's marshmallow monograph puts the spacing rule plainly: take it a few hours before or after other medications or health products, because mucilage can delay their absorption, and the same caution is sensible for any thick, mucilage-rich preparation. Health Canada's monographs advise pregnant or breastfeeding people to ask a practitioner before using any herbal product, and the same goes for children; where alcohol itself is the concern, herbalists commonly reach for a glycerite instead. Calendula, chamomile and echinacea are daisy-family plants: Health Canada's monographs say to stop use if an allergic reaction occurs, and European monographs go further and rule them out for anyone allergic to related plants such as ragweed, so patch-test and go carefully. Essential oils are a separate category from the herbs in this guide: the distilled oils of hyssop and wormwood have caused seizures when swallowed and are never taken internally. The teas are a different order of magnitude, but wormwood tea is still a short-term herb and hyssop is avoided in pregnancy. Throughout this guide we describe how herbs have traditionally been used and prepared; none of these preparations is a treatment for any condition.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an infusion and a decoction?
An infusion steeps soft plant parts, leaves and flowers, in water just off the boil for ten to fifteen minutes. A decoction simmers hard parts, roots, bark and seeds, in water for twenty to thirty minutes. The plant part decides which you use.
Which herbs should be infused in cold water?
Herbs rich in mucilage, above all marshmallow root: Health Canada's monograph calls for a cold infusion, 30 minutes with stirring, and a longer cold steep of four to eight hours gives a thicker, silkier cup without the starch and bitterness heat pulls out.
What ratio of herb to alcohol makes a tincture?
For dried herb, one part herb by weight to five parts alcohol by volume in 40% vodka is the standard home ratio. Fresh herb needs a tighter ratio, 1:2 to 1:3, and a stronger spirit because the plant's own water dilutes it.
Can I make a tincture without alcohol?
Yes. A glycerite uses vegetable glycerin instead and suits children and people avoiding alcohol; it keeps one to two years instead of many. Herbal vinegars are another alcohol-free option, best for mineral-rich leaves.
Should I use fresh or dried herbs for an infused oil?
Dried. Fresh plant material carries water into the oil, which is what lets mould, and in oil botulism, get started. Cover the dried herb with oil by two to three centimetres and infuse in a sunny window for two to six weeks, or warm it gently, under about 50 °C, for a few hours.
How long do homemade herbal preparations keep?
Alcohol tinctures stay stable for years, three to five by convention. Infused oils and salves keep six to twelve months, set by the oil going rancid. Glycerites keep one to two years and vinegars six months to a year. Infusions and decoctions are for the same day or the next, kept in the refrigerator.
Want to learn more? Check out our other guides on working with dried herbs:
- How to Start a Home Apothecary
- How to Store Dried Herbs: Jars, Shelf Life & Storage Tips
- How to Make Herbal Tea Blends at Home
Interested in knowing more about what's going on on the farm? Our occasional emails bring you stories from the field, new herbs for sale, and herbal insights. Browse our Organic herbs or sign up for our newsletter to stay connected.