Creating the Alcohol Free Apothecary
I don’t have anything against alcohol. That is usually peoples first assumption when I tell them this.
The truth is, I just like other things more and have found over the years that I just don’t like taking tinctures for my medicine.
I’ll have a few tinctures, like my my muscle spasm blend but for the most part, a hot herbal salt bath and liniment does the trick.
As we move through the seasons, harvesting and creating, these are the ingredients I recommend and will be present in my recipes.
Honey
Apple Cider Vinegar (I buy 5 gallon buckets from Azure)
Rubbing alcohol (yes, its an alcohol but you don’t drink it)
Olive oil
Castor oil (hexane free)
Coconut oil
Tallow and/or lard
Beef gelatin
Beeswax
That is it. I keep it very simple and I’ve designed it so that over the years I should be able to produce many of these on the land I live on. Some I make already - like apple cider vinegar - but not enough for a year…yet.
Materials and tools
Potato ricer (for squeezing marcs)
Lots of jars of all sizes (I am a huge fan of Weck jars but IKEA Korken jars are wonderful and much more affordable. I have mason jars but they are not my preferred jar)
Amber glass bottles in all sizes (buy at SKS, case prices are cheaper and the bottles don’t go bad but you can also share with people - I will do another post on bottles, tins, and jars)
Tins, 2 ounces and/or 2 ounce glass cream jars (both available on SKS)
Amber glass spray bottles (SKS)
Linen - for holding marcs in potato ricer
Labels and indelible ink markers
Muslin tea bags
That is it!
When I started to dive into herbal medicine, we were a very young family with very little money. As I dove even deeper into my studies I really felt like I needed to have a full apothecary with all sorts of fancy oils and butters and what not.
As I moved into practice and a strong focus on bioregional herbalism, I became less enthralled with the impact all of these butters and oils have. It is still a concept I think about regularly as one day I would love to have an apothecary of just items from the land in my bioregion. But that is a whole different adventure!
So lets get started on creating our non alcoholic, totally seasonal, apothecary.