I know when I started and even now I sometimes mix up the language for how us mere mortals work with plants to be able to implement all their goodness into our lives for physical health, emotional adaptions, and spiritual exploration. This here doesn’t go into the long practiced method of smoking/inhaling anything. I’m just focused on extractions for tinctures, medicines, and other craft-ables. Depending on which plants you are working with there are several methods for extracting medicinal compounds and nutrients from plants, each suited to different compounds and purposes:

1. Water-based Extraction:
   • Infusion: Immersing plant material in hot water to extract compounds like teas.
   • Decoction: Boiling tougher plant parts (like roots, bark) in water to extract compounds.
2. Oil-based Extraction:
   • Maceration: Soaking plant material in a carrier oil to draw out fat-soluble compounds.
   • Steam Distillation: Using steam to extract essential oils from aromatic plants.
3. Alcohol-based Extraction:
   • Tinctures: Extracting compounds by soaking plant material in alcohol (like ethanol).
   • Maceration in Alcohol: Similar to oil maceration, but using alcohol as the solvent.
4. Solvent Extraction:
   • Ethanol Extraction: Using ethanol to dissolve compounds; often used for cannabinoids in cannabis.
   • Hexane Extraction: For lipid-soluble compounds; not recommended for medicinal use due to toxicity.
5. Supercritical Fluid Extraction:
   • CO2 Extraction: Uses supercritical carbon dioxide to extract specific compounds; commonly used in herbal medicine and the food industry.
6. Enzyme-assisted Extraction:
   • Enzyme Digestion: Using enzymes to break down cell walls and release compounds.
7. Microwave-assisted Extraction (MAE):
   • Microwave Irradiation: Utilizes microwave energy to speed up extraction processes.

Each method has its advantages and is chosen based on the desired compounds, efficiency, safety, and intended use of the extracted material. Have you worked with the non-toxic methods listed? I tend to work with options 1 through 3 on a regular basis. I’m curious if anyone has used one of the others to achieve a home tonic or other. Please comment and let me know! I love sharing experiences with others in our community!