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Orange Blossom Digestive Bitters
 
 
Digestive bitters enhance the digestive response over time, and are a great choice for those who have poor digestion or absorption issues. This digestive bitters recipe has a pleasant orange blossom flavor that even my kids approve of. If you've never made a recipe using parts, I explain it all below...totally easy.
Author:
Recipe type: Herbal Remedy
Ingredients
  • 1 cup or less boiling water
  • 80 proof decent quality rum to fill your container
  • 1 part yellow dock root
  • 1 part dried hibiscus blossoms*
  • 1 part dried orange peels
  • 1 part burdock root
  • 1 part dandelion root
Instructions
  1. Decide how much tincture you want to make, and choose a jar that's roughly double that volume.
  2. Choose a unit of measure that will fill the jar ⅓ to ½ full of herbal material. My jar holds about 8 cups total, so I want between 3 and 4 cups total. (The herbs will swell a LOT when you add liquid.) A one cup measure would be 5 cups...too much material. A half cup would only give me 2½ cups of herbs. I'd be better off choosing ¾ cups as my unit of measure, which gives me 3¾ cups of dried materials. Perfect. The beauty of using a recipe with parts is that you can scale the unit of measure to any size jar...even using half teaspoons if you desire a very small jar of tincture.
  3. Add your herbal material to the jar.
  4. Put a kettle of water on to boil, and when it's boiling add a few 'glugs' of water...really just enough to pre-moisten the herbs a bit. This just wakes up the herbs and speeds the process in the alcohol.
  5. Fill the jar to the top with 80 proof rum.
  6. Seal jar with a plastic lid, and sit in a dark, cool place.
  7. The next morning, check to make sure that the herbs are still submerged under the rum. They wil have swelled quite a bit. Add more rum as needed to cover the herbs.
  8. Allow mixture to steep in a cool dark place for 3-6 weeks (although I will strain and use some early on.)
  9. Strain by placing a mesh strainer over a bowl with a pouring spout. Line strainer with a tea towel and add a paper towel over the tea towel.
  10. Pour finished tincture into the towel lined sieve, and allow it to drain over the bowl.
  11. When it's mostly drained, gather up the towel and begin to twist the top and squeeze the herbs to press the remaining liquid out of them.
  12. Toss spent herbs (the paper towel lining makes this much easier).
  13. Store tincture in small glass dropper jar or sprayer bottle (available on MountainRoseHerbs.com). Tinctures last for up to 2 years.
Notes
*omit for pregnant and nursing Mamas, or substitute with red raspberry leaves.
Recipe by Gwen's Nest at https://gwens-nest.com/digestive-bitters-recipes-part-iii/