After a long winter of heavy foods, dandelions are a welcome sight. The leaves make for delicious fresh spring salads, and the flowers make a tasty dandelion wine. Dandelion roots are where the real medicine lies, and a dandelion tincture can preserve the herb for use year round.
What is Dandelion Root Tincture Used for?
Dandelion is a well known digestive herb, and a few drops can be taken before meals to prevent gas and after meals for heartburn. It’s also known as a cleansing herb, that supports healthy liver and kidney function. The same cleansing action is used as a blood purifier, that can help reduce blood cholesterol.
As a gentle diuretic, dandelion tincture is used as a treatment for UTIs and water retention.
Herbalists also prescribe dandelion tincture to promote healthy clear skin. Traditionally, it’s also been used to help build energy and endurance, which can be helpful after a long winter indoors.
According to the herbalist Julie Bruton-Seal, dandelion tincture is used for:
- Skin Problems
- Sluggish Liver
- Constipation
- Urinary Problems
- Fluid Retention
- Arthritis
- Gout
- Hangovers
- Chronic Illness
Dandelion Tincture Dosage
The book Backyard Medicine offers detailed recommendations for dandelion tincture dosage:
- General Health Maintenence ~ 1/2 teaspoon twice daily.
- Acute Skin Eruptions ~ 10 drops in water frequently throughout the day.
- Arthritis, gout, eczema, psoriasis & liver trouble ~ 1 teaspoon 3 times a day in water.
- Indigestion ~ 10 drops in water every hour until resolved.
How to Make Dandelion Tincture
While you can make a whole herb dandelion tincture, I like to save the leaves for spring salads and eat them directly. The roots are tougher and are best used as a tincture. Ideally, harvest dandelion roots in the early spring, before the plants have sent up their flowers. The dandelion plant calls on energy and nutrient reserves in the roots to form a flower, so it’s best to harvest the root while those nutrients are still in place.
If you’ve missed the season, you can buy dried dandelion root online.
Start by digging the dandelion roots. As soon as the snow melts off and temperatures warm up, dandelion rosettes pop up everywhere. Just keep your eyes open, and you’ll find them all over. The leaves green up before lawn grass, so they can be easy to spot even on a lawn. The garden is a great place to look since you’ll likely be hoeing them out later.
In light or sandy soil, you can pull the dandelion roots directly. If you have tough clay soil like we do, then you’ll need a trowel or spade to dig them out. Once you have a good-sized handful, bring them inside for washing and chopping.
At this point, you can just chop the whole plants, leaves and all, or you can save the leaves for salads and just use the roots. If you’re harvesting them in the very early spring, the leaves are still tender and perfect for fresh eating. These make young dandelion leaves make the very best salads, and it seems a shame to waste them in a tincture. Either way, it’s up to you.
I’ve removed the leaves and saved just the cleaned roots for my tincture.
Chop the dandelion roots into small pieces. This increases their surface area and will allow the alcohol to do a better job extracting nutrients and medicinal constituents from the roots.
Pack the chopped roots into a mason jar, and cover with alcohol. Ideally, the jar is about 2/3 full of fresh roots, and then it’s filled to within an inch of the top with vodka. I like to use Smirnoff for my homemade tinctures because it’s relatively cheap, but not so cheap that the tincture is hard to take. For your own use, choose the cheapest vodka that you’d voluntarily drink.
Allow the tincture to infuse in a cool dark place, giving it a shake anytime you remember. The dandelion root tincture needs at least a month to infuse, but ideally, 2-3 months to gain full potency. If you need the tincture sooner than that, you can buy prepared dandelion tincture online to tide you over while your own dandelion tincture is infusing.
Once the tincture is finished, strain it through a fine mesh strainer, and store the tincture in amber dropper bottles.
Jessi
Can I make the tincture from dried tea leaves like from a tea bag?
Ashley Adamant
Yes you can. Tea bag teas tend to be very fine inside the bag, and you might have trouble filtering it out though. Either leave it in the tea bag or filter the finished tincture through a coffee filter at the end. You’d also need A LOT of tea bags to make even a small quantity of tincture. It would be a lot more cost effective to just find dried plant material in bulk, and many natural grocery stores have a bulk herb section these days where you can get a whole jar of dried herbal material for just a few dollars. But to answer your question, yes, of course, you can use tea bags if you have them and you want to make a tincture. Just make sure they don’t have other additives of any kind.
Jennifer
Alcohol does not mix with my medicine. What else can I use besides alcohol?
Ashley Adamant
Good question! You can also make tinctures with vegetable glycerine or apple cider vinegar. Same process, just substitute either of those for the alcohol.
saoinas
How long is the tincture good for once stored properly?
Ashley Adamant
In theory, the alcohol should keep it from “spoiling” indefinitely, but I’ve read that tinctures lose potency after about a year.
Cindy
Do you know if the inulin in dandelion roots comes over in the alcohol? I cannot digest inulin that is in most roots (a lot in dandelion). I realize I would only be taking a small amount with tincture. Thanks. Fantastic blog!
Ashley Adamant
You know, I didn’t know the answer to that…but I did a bit of research and inulin is water-soluble (but I can’t seem to find if it’s alcohol soluble). The alcohol you use in tinctures isn’t 100% alcohol, so there is water in it, which means the inulin will likely be present in the tincture.
Kelly
Is there any way to use the roots after the tincture is all finished?
Thanks much!
Ashley Adamant
Good question. I’ve tried to use things after tinctures, but I’ve never been really satisfied with the results. I tried making chutney from strawberries in a strawberry-infused vodka, but as you might imagine, all the flavor infused into the alcohol and it tasted like nothing (except alcohol). Similar results with other things. I imagine you could cook them, but just about all the good stuff (except perhaps fiber) has been extracted into the tincture and the resulting roots will taste very strongly of alcohol.
Cheryl Green
How many drops would be a good start and then how many for maintenance would you suggest. Thank you kindly.
Cheryl.
Zandra Peterson
Can you make a tincture from the dandelion flowers?
Ashley Adamant
Yes, but I imagine the medicinal value may be different? Honestly I don’t know if or how it would be different, though I’ve seen many people make dandelion cordial by basically making a tincture of the flowers and adding sugar. The medicinal value is unclear, but I bet that tastes good.
Peter
Can you over infuse a tincture? I’ve had one brewing for 6 months. Is it still usable?
Ashley Adamant
Yup, still usable. I’ve forgotten a few like that, and they’re still just fine.