Calendula, a prolific bright orange and yellow flower, has a long history as a medicinal herb dating back to Ancient Greece. It's easy to grow, has an excellent safety profile, and, thanks to its essential oils, is a fantastic ingredient to have on hand for home remedies and herbal concoctions.
So, isn't it time you learned how to make calendula tincture at home?
Why Make Calendula Tincture at Home?
Calendula flowers possess a wide range of applications for internal consumption and topical use. According to herbalist traditions, calendula tincture supports the lymphatic system, fosters a robust immune response, and is an invaluable companion during the autumn and winter months.
Calendula has a subtle, bitter taste and is known for aiding liver function. Its impact on liver function may be why people use it for healthy skin, hormone balancing, and digestive support. Owing to its soothing and resinous nature, calendula flowers have been traditionally prescribed for stimulating healthy activity throughout the digestive tract, from the mouth to the intestines.
Today, there is considerable scientific interest in topical uses for calendula for dermatitis, inflammation, and other common skin conditions. It's why you'll find calendula tinctures and infusions sold everywhere — often for a premium. But, as is often the case, there is little regulatory oversight on the preparation and concentration of these commercial options.
If you use calendula therapeutically, don't you want to ensure you know exactly what it's made from? Considering how easy calendula is to grow, it only makes sense to learn how to make calendula tincture at home.
And trust us, this is one of the simplest herbal remedies to make!
How To Make Calendula Tincture: Step-by-Step Process
Step 1: Process and dry flowers
To make calendula tincture, you'll have to start with dried calendula flowers.
Harvest just the flower heads from your calendula plants (the rest of the plant will continue to produce flowers for the next batch). Remove green stem and sepal leaves (the leaves cupping the base of the flower) to ensure any of the chlorophyll doesn't end up degrading the color and flavor of the final extract.
Spread the harvested calendula flowers in a single layer on dehydrator trays. If you don't have a dehydrator, a mesh screen in a warm, dry room can also work. Then, dry the flowers until they easily crumble when handled.
At this point, you can remove the petals or use the entire flower. Should you grind up the material? While crumbling the material can create more surface area for a faster, more effective extraction, do not grind it into a fine powder. Too finely ground, and you'll end up with undesirables in the final product, not to mention a much slower process.
What can you do if you don't have a garden overflowing with calendula? Calendula flowers are widely available online through places like Mountain Rose Herbs.
Step 2: Prepare alcohol wash
Loosely fill a quart-sized mason jar with the dried calendula flowers (or petals). Next, fill the jar with high-quality, 190-proof ethanol or higher (200-proof USP-grade anhydrous ethyl alcohol) until the flowers are just submerged. In the tincture world, this mixture is called the wash.
Add a label to the jar indicating the contents and the date you started your wash. Allow this mixture to sit in a cool, dark cupboard for at least 48 hours.
Step 3: Strain and filter
Strain the calendula and ethanol mixture using a Buchner Filtration Flask or a coffee filter. This will separate the now-spent botanical material from the alcohol extraction. This process can take a while, depending on how finely crumbled the flowers are.
Once you’ve separated the botanical material, you can dispose of it. The alcohol has already absorbed all the valuable medicinal ingredients.
Step 4: Concentrate with the Source Turbo
Follow the setup instructions on your Source Turbo before starting.
Pour the filtered calendula tincture into the Source Turbo crucible to the fill line. Note that depending on how much tincture you have, you may need to run more than one batch. Carefully screw the crucible into the heating post on the base.
Place the lid on the machine and turn it on to normal mode. Normal mode is useful for maintaining a slow, low heat for tinctures like calendula, which have a heavy, oily component. Once the vacuum seal has kicked in, place the container of frozen water on top of the base.
Run the machine on normal mode until your tincture reaches the desired consistency and concentration. The processing time will vary depending on the essential oil contents of your starting material and the flower-to-alcohol ratio you started with.
The good news? The clear casing makes checking in on the tincture easy throughout the process.
For a calendula tincture suitable for a dropper, perfume, or other liquid-type formulation, you'll want to start checking on the mixture at the 30-minute mark and then every 10 minutes afterward. Pull it out while it's still liquid. Keep in mind it may still be bubbling. That's okay because a calendula tincture traditionally still contains some alcohol content. This is what keeps it fluid for use in a dropper
For a thicker, sticky concentrate suitable for solid product formulations (candles, soaps, perfumes), you'll want to run the mixture much longer; often, there will only be a few tablespoons of product remaining at the bottom of the crucible. Any bubbling you saw earlier in the process will have stopped entirely.
Step 5: Collection and storage
Whenever your tincture has reached the desired concentration and consistency, turn off the SourceTurbo and remove the crucible when it has cooled slightly.
If your calendula tincture is on the liquid side, pour it into a clean mason jar to store. You can also decant directly into dropper bottles.
For thicker consistency concentrates, you'll want to use a silicon tool to scrape out of the crucible and into a container. Small silicon storage containers are ideal for sticky and tacky concentrates, keeping the mess to a minimum.
As always, label your tinctures with the contents and date for future reference. Store your homemade calendula tincture in a cool, dry location until ready to use. Most commercial calendula tinctures report a shelf life of one year.
And for those that work best with a visual guide, you can follow along with our chamomile extract tutorial. The same steps apply for calendula tincture.
Making Calendula Tincture at Home: Easy, Safe, and Useful
Calendula is an incredible ingredient to have on hand in a home medicine cabinet. It's long been a valuable herbal remedy for both internal and external health concerns.
But why pay a premium for it when you can easily make calendula tincture at home with just two simple ingredients: calendula flowers and high-grade alcohol? If you happen to grow calendula at home, you'll have complete control over the entire process and the end result. Plus, with the Source Turbo, you'll have the tools to safely make a highly potent, commercial-grade concentrated product.
Ready to take your family's health into your own hands? Make calendula tincture at home with the SourceTurbo.