There are some things you only find out in the doing.
I wanted to make a decocted tincture. This would involve decocting [or simmering] the roots in water, then adding that water as part of the ethanol/water mix that we use as a solute for making tinctures.
The roots were small and hard. I bought them in as wildcrafted roots as I am not growing any myself – which would be the best option. 500g of dried roots were put in a pan with 2 litres of water; you can see what happened…
The small hard roots were so thirsty for water and so absorbent that they sucked all the water up very quickly. When I tried to stir them the spoon couldn’t get past the surface as there was no free water in which roots were swimming – it was all taken up in the roots. If I hadn’t taken the pan off the heat then the bottom would have burnt.
So the roots were transferred to a bigger pan and more water added. I had no previous experience of decocting Devil’s Claw but I now know how absorbent these little hard roots are, much more absorbent than dandelion roots.
