Powdered vs. Cut and Sifted

[Alissa KrajewskiStudent]

I notice the course usually refers to powders. Am I missing out on a lot/most of the benefits by using loose dry herbs and straining them out when I make infusions? They are so much easier for me to deal with.

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Rachael Cocke, Pam Kramer-Smith, Ashley Cosby

[Dr. Patrick JonesHomestead Instructor]

I use powders for tinctures for two* reasons:

They are easier to work with

They are easier to mix up and cover with the booze.

The grind offers more surface area for the booze to extract things from

(*Remember, there are two kinds of people in the world….those who can count and those who can’t.)

Now, having said all of that, people used herbs for many thousands of years before the invention of the Vita-Mix blender and they seemed to think they worked pretty well.

Not grinding things to a powder has two advantages as well. 

Not grinding extends shelf life a bit

Drinking a tea made from cut & sift herbs is sometimes nicer than drinking a tea made from powder.

So, both techniques have some pros and cons but those pros and cons are, for the most part, pretty minor and inconsequential.

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

7 users thanked author for this post.

Rachael Cocke, Pam Kramer-Smith, Terri Mueller, Ashley Cosby, Annett, Natalie Stamenov, Alissa Krajewski

[SharonStudent]

So if I want to powder some of my dried herbs without damaging them with the vitamix (or the nutribullet) – would I just do really small portions and pulse it?  It would be sad to ruin my herbs in the quest of powdering to make things simpler!

[Dr. Patrick JonesHomestead Instructor]

Just make sure the sides of the blender aren’t getting warm. The amount of time blending is probably more important than the amount of herb.

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

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Pam Kramer-Smith, Sharon

[Charlotte ChumleaStudent]

I wonder if freeze drying tough stems would make them easier to turn into powders. ? My tough broccoli stems powder easily in a Vitamix after freeze drying. Tough roots should be similar once they are sliced and freeze dried, should they not? Would this work with BrighamTea?

[Dr. Patrick JonesHomestead Instructor]

Someone told me that just freezing Brigham tea makes it lots easier to grind. I haven’t tried it.

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

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