THE CURE FOR ALL DISEASES
When preparing the walnuts, rinse only with cold tap water.
You may need to use a brush on areas with dirt. If you are not
going to use all of them in this batch, you may freeze them in a
resealable plastic bag. Simply refrigerating them does not keep
them from turning black and useless. The pot of soaking walnuts
should not be refrigerated. Nor does the final tincture need any
refrigeration.
Exposure to air does cause the tincture to darken and lose
potency. To reduce air exposure, fill the pot as much as possible,
without touching the plastic wrap, while still keeping a snug
fitting lid. Even more importantly, the glass jars or bottles you
use to store your tincture should have as little air space as
possible, without touching the plastic wrap on top. A large jar
should be divided into smaller ones when you are ready to use it.
The idea is not to have partial jars, with a lot of air space, sitting
for longer than a month or so.
There are several ways to make a 50% grain alcohol solu-
tion. Some states have Everclear,TM 95% alcohol. Mix this half
and half with water. Other states have Everclear that is 76.5%
alcohol. Mix this three parts Everclear to one part water. Yet
another method is to buy vodka that is 100 proof. This is already
50% alcohol.
Remember, never use any kind of purchased water to make
tincture.
Black Walnut Hull Tincture (Regular Strength)
This is the potency I used originally. It is included here in
case you prefer it or wish to treat a pet. The Extra Strength recipe
is four times as potent as the original recipe, so it must be diluted
in quarters. (Similarly, if you have a lot of the Regular Strength
left and want to use it in place of Extra Strength, simply take four
times as much.)