This super easy DIY Herbal Tincture for Immune System Support is invaluable in the season of sniffly noses. Boost your family’s health with it!
Written by Jessica Young
Herbs are one of my favorites ways to help build up a healthy immune system. This immune boosting tincture will help kick the winter germs to the curb!
While there are many ways to keep your immune system healthy during the cold and flu season, I find even the healthiest immune system needs a little boost now and then.
When the body is bombarded with germs, your immune system fights to keep up. I like to help my family along with herbal tinctures when I know we have been exposed to germs or are just stressed or tired.
The holidays can be a major time for stress. It’s not always bad stress, but diet changes, travel and lack of sleep can tax a body.
Herbal tinctures are my key to aiding our bodies, and they’re super easy to make!
I find herbal and natural remedies are rock stars when it comes to preventive care. This means I like to use them before we are even sick just to help kick start the immune system.
I love using this combination because it will help fight germs, get your immune system working a bit better, and provide a bit of extra mineral and vitamins.
(And let’s face it, we can all use that!)
Immune boosting tincture can also be used during illness as it contains one of my favorites for colds and viral infections, elderberries. I also like to keep extra elderberry syrup on hand for when we are really sick to help get through an illness faster.
If you have never made a tincture before, no worries. It is one of the easiest herbal preparations to make, I promise.
You can’t mess it up. How awesome is that?
DIY Herbal Tincture for Immune System Support
Ingredients
- 1 part dried elderberry
- 1 part dried echinacea
- 1 part dried astragalus
- 1/2 part dried nettles
- 1/2 part dried red raspberry
- 1/4 part dried peppermint
- Vodka or rum enough to cover your herbs
Instructions
- Mix all herbs in a bowl and pack into a glass jar
- Cover the herbs with alcohol
- Put lid on jar and shake
- The next day, check to see if you need to add more alcohol (some will be absorbed, add more if needed)
- Put lid back on and shake
- Let sit for two weeks, shaking jar on occasion
- When ready, put funnel in the extra jar and cover with cheese cloth
- Pour herb solution in the jar and allow the herbs to sit and drip
- Then squeeze the herbs to get all the liquid out
- Throw away the herbs
- Put the lid on your jar and label
Notes
2 jars with lids
wid mouth funnel
Cheese cloth
Nutrition
See? Totally easy and doable and you will have an awesome blend to get you through the cold and flu season.
This recipe can also be adjusted for the amounts you want or you may add other herbs. I love trying and blending new herbs to see what works best for my family.
Michelle
When you say 1 part what is the measurement in tablespoons for example
Kel
My favorite way to incorporate immunity support with skin care is this Organic Citrus Immunity Skin Butter – made with raw mango and avocado butters – and a touch of argan and vitamin e. My skin is like VELVET!!! I heard about this company from another user’s post and CAN’T GET ENOUGH of these products! http://www.beechersbotanicals.com/#!our-products/kmt72/!/CITRUS-IMMUNITY-Organic-Skin-Butter/p/58239810/category=15385027
Mozey
I am definitely gonna have to make this, as I use all of those herbs already and with four kids, buying tinctures gets expensive during cold and flu season! Thank you for sharing!
Marla
Hi Janet,
This sounds like a wonderful herbal recipe that should be a great immune system booster and fight colds & flu. Shared on Twitter & pinned. Visiting from Simply Natural Saturdays.
Bonnie Fiddes
The proportions are there, but how much does a person take?
I’m a bit confused. Can you clarify? Thanks!
Karen Mitchell
Bonnie, seems as though you can’t find our answers here, try this page.
http://www.moonflowerherbals.com/blog/how-to-take-a-tincture
Bonnie Fiddes
The proportions are there but how much does a person take?
I’m a bit confused. Can you clarify? Thanks!
Kate
Are you in Canada? Where do you get your vodka? I really got started with herbs in the US, where Everclear is the vodka du jour for tinctures, etc. I cannot find anything with a decent alcohol content here though. I’m pretty sure the poor young guy at one liquor store is still trying to figure out how to respond to my then MASSIVELY pregnant self asking for “your highest alcohol content”. The best he could do was still nowhere near what I wanted, and I left disappointed. I used some 40% to make a few things, but I don’t like the result as much as the Everclear equivalent. If you are in Canada, and using a “lower” alcohol content alcohol, do you find you get as much out of the tincture, in terms of potency? Help?!
Re: where to get herbs, there’s usually a local herbalist, and facebook is a magical thing! Your local naturopathic doctor or potentially even an accupuncturist should/could either stock herbs or be able to get you bulk amounts through their supplier. If not, Mountain Rose Herbs is quite good. Shipping to Canada is INSANE, but if you make a big enough order and maybe split it with a few people…
I don’t know what Jessica does/recommends, but I absolutely put tinctures into hot water. I add immune boosting or echinacea tinctures to lemon and honey tea for my kids, and have heated off the bulk of the alcohol content out of some remedies for clients in my midwifery practice without seeing any noticeable change in efficacy.
Jessica
Hi Kate! I can’t speak of where to get Everclear in Canada but I hardly use it here. I find it to be too strong. So I use rum or regular vodka and take more than I would of a tincture that used everclear. I find that work just as well. I have also been known to also do a glycerin tincture and an alcohol one and mix them to get different benefits. I hope that helps you some!
Janet
OOPS! Meant new not knew on my comment 🙂
Janet
Where do you get the herbs you are using? How much do you take of this? Can you put it in a hot liquid or does it lose its immune fighting properties? Thanks for help. I am knew to this and it is so interesting. Would love an herbs 101 class!!
Jessica
Hi Janet! I totally put tinctures in hot water for my young kids. It does not effect it’s strength. I just do 10 drops, three times a day for the kids when working on prevention. For adults, I do a full dropped three times a day.