wine for dit da jao

[Dale Dugas]

I do not think a small amount of time is going to do anything bad to your herbs. I grind the tien chi/tin chut as the things have consistencies of rocks. Other than that I cut them up to get them into the 5 gallon carboys I use to make medicine.

Be well,

Dale

[PlumDragon]

Does anyone know if herbs start to lose their potency if they've been ground fine and exposed to air for a short amount of time?

Most stuff is ok to grind, but be careful about what you grind up; the heat generated in a fine grind can wipe out some of the volatile oils in some herbs.

Also, finely ground matter can tend to adhere more strongly than coarsely ground matter, which will have the effect of disallowing a good dispersion of compounds into the liquid and giving the opposite effect desired. It really all comes back to the aging time.

I wrote this article a few years ago about grinding herbs; its really old, so no making fun of the old school format...But it offers some legitimate points about the topic:

http://www.plumdragonjow.com/grind.html

[lhommedieu]

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

For short periods of time I agree that exposure to air probably won't make much of a difference - particularly if the herbs are placed in capsules/bottles or tightly wrapped in plasic bags. But occasionally I have patients who forget to pick up their herbs on time, and I have "standard" formulas that I place in capsules for patients who don't like decoctions.

What would you estimate to be a reasonable "shelf life" for finely ground herbs either in capsule/bottle or wrapped tightly in plastic bags?

Best,

Steve

[PlumDragon]

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Steve, Im glad you enjoyed it!

What would you estimate to be a reasonable "shelf life" for finely ground herbs either in capsule/bottle or wrapped tightly in plastic bags?

Ive spoken to several botanists and growers about this and similar topics. Suffice it to say that one could probably spend an entire career researching and learning about these sorts of things, with both whole and ground herbs. There are even people who study whether or not certain things were "dead" when picked, and the differences in appearance and smell, before and after grinding!

With that said, here are some general guidelines that Ive come to trust. The values below dont render an herb useless, but are more based on when noticeable degredation of the compounds has taken place:

- Finely ground herbs well wrapped and contained have a shelf life of about 2-3 months. Capsules seem to work pretty well for maintaining freshness; I am really really anal about this sort of thing, so this is a nitpick, but to ensure the best of shelf-life, wear a pair of latex gloves while making your capsules, etc so that you dont accidentally leave behind any oils from skin contact.
- Coarsely ground herbs well wrapped and contained have a shelf life of about 3-6 months. Surface area increases exponentially once you start going from "coarse" to "fine". Packing tightly will help alleviate this problem for both types of grinds.
- Whole herbs well wrapped and contained have a shelf-life between 6-15 months. Some herbs are still quite well intact after 18 months, but from a business perspective, I find its always best to simply replace them if they sit for more than about 9 months.
- Extracts and modern Patents have a shelf life of several years.

There are some exceptions, chen pi being an obvous good example because it generally gets better as it ages--I dont know if this is the case if it is ground however.

Also, there are some things you can do to increase the shelf-life. If you know you will be storing herbs, one notable item is make sure the herb is as dry as possible. Things like Dang Gui can show up from suppliers with a bit of malleability in them, which is in part due to an unfinished drying process. Exposing these indirectly to some type of hydroscopic substace (ie dessicant) can remove some of that moisture and encourage a longer shelf life...

Hope that helps! =)

[lhommedieu]

Thanks! It's great to have guidelines regarding shelf-life and being able to plan and budget accordingly. For example, if I'm only selling 1-2 bottles of a capsuled herb formula per month, and I have 50 bottles on the shelf, then it's probably better to order from a trusted retailer with a greater turnover. On the other hand, if it's something that I can only make myself, it's probably better to grind a small amound of herbs myself rather than ask someone to grind it for me - as they usually have a minimum order re. the amount they will grind.

Yet another argument for decoctions. Do you think my patients will buy into it?

Thanks again.

Steve

[hskwarrior]

you can also use vinegar........my sigung uses it, and he has some of the best jow i've ever seen out there.........very old recipe.