How to Make Astragalus Tincture

Astragalus is an immune boosting, adaptogenic herb that can support your body during times of stress and help reduce the severity of infections. Learn more here and make a tincture for your own. The Homesteading Hippy #homesteadhippy #herbs #fromthefarm #tincture

Astragalus is a Chinese legume, often used in culinary medicine in healing soups or other nourishing foods.

It is an adaptogen, which means that it helps the body return to normal function, especially during times of stress. It is safe for most situations, even with long term use as there are no known contradications. It also has a tradition of being an immune support and reducing the severity and longevity of infections.

In this video, I am going to show you how to make an astragalus tincture.

I am using a 1:5 ratio of herbs to alcohol.

This means, that for every gram of herb, you use 5 mL of alcohol to extract the medicinal properties of the herb.

You want to weigh and measure, not just eyeball this. This way, you will get a much more concise dosage each time. I like to leave the herbs in the alcohol for 30 days or so before draining them.

Once you have gotten the tinctured alcohol, you can store it in a eyedropper bottle. Since it has 80 proof alcohol, the shelf life is quite long, almost indefinitely, when stored in a cool, dark place.

The dosage for astragalus tincture at this ratio is 10-30 drops daily.

This is based on a 150 lb. adult, taking it 2 times daily. My children do not need as much, so their dose is only 10-20 drops once a day. Since I place the tincture into the capsules, I put 10 drops in each time and take a total of 30 drops per day. (My kids get 10 drops in a pill 2 times a day.)

This amount works well for me, helping me with the stress of gardening, homesteading, homeschooling, running my teens to and from part time jobs and so on.

The main reason I put it into capsules is that it tastes nasty.

My children liken the aftertaste to something you would scrape off the bottom of your boot after being in the chicken coop. It’s probably pretty close, anyway. 🙂 As Mr. Myagi from The Karate Kid said, “smell bad, heal good”. Let me know how you like it!

Astragalus is an immune boosting, adaptogenic herb that can support your body during times of stress and help reduce the severity of infections. Learn more here and make a tincture for your own. The Homesteading Hippy #homesteadhippy #herbs #fromthefarm #tincture

16 thoughts on “How to Make Astragalus Tincture”

  1. I have used this herb, but have not made the tincture… thank you for the information. I really appreciate tinctures… and have made many of them for various uses. I will need to add this one… thank you again. 🙂

  2. Great information on immune boosting herb – Astragalus – that I don’t think many people are aware of. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & twitted.

  3. Jennifer in PA

    Thank you. I love having astragalus tincture on hand but have never made it before. Congrats on being featured at Wildcrafting Wednesday.

  4. Hi Heather,
    Just a note to let you know that I have chosen your post as one of my features for this week Real Food Fridays blog hop that goes live every Thursday @7pm EST. Thank you so much for being part of Real Food Fridays and sharing on valuable information and helping to make this a healthier world.

  5. Do you know what the dose in ml or drops would be the equivalent of 1000mg of astragalus?
    Thank you for the recipe!

    1. Heather Harris

      for dosing, are we talking an adult or child? weight matters in dosing so the usual dosing instructions start with a healthy, 150 pound adult and is adjusted from there.

        1. Heather Harris

          the dosage of 10-20 drops is for a healthy, 150 pound adult. For a child under 10, we automatically cut that by 1/3 and then go by their weight again.
          So, my current numbers would say that 2-5 drops a day for a 30 lb. child. I would err on the side of less since it’s alcohol and to check for any possible reactions. There shouldn’t be any contradictions, but each person is different.

    1. yes, but it may be more difficult to strain all the matter out. With powdered root, many usually just fill empty capsules with it to make life easier 😉

  6. I have Astragalus root in a vacuumsealed & unopened package that’s maybe 2 or 3 yrs old. Worth a shot? It’s been kept in a dry, dark cupboard.

    1. I would say it’s worth making. I have mine in cool, dry cabinets too, and keep them for more than a year, sometimes 2-3.

  7. Marylee Kishel

    From viewing your video I gather that you make the tincture with the astragalus root. Have you used the leaves in a tincture? Thanks.

  8. I have powdered astragalus and, apart from filling empty 000 capsules, I would like to make some tincture using some of the powder. What would the ratio of powder to alcohol be? I presume the liquid would have to be strained after 30 days, using cheesecloth or filter paper.

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