Macerations characteristics

How to make a maceration?

What is a maceration?

A maceration is a method of extracting the active principles of a medicinal plant consisting on leaving it in liquid for a long period of time (between 6 hours and several weeks)

How a maceration is done?

Macerations are made in a proportion of 20 parts of liquid to 1 part of plant, That’s is to say per 50g of plant parts we use 1 liter of liquid, although they can be diluted by up to half (20 g per liter of water plant)

Types of macerations

hypericum oil

St John’s wort flowers (Hypericum perforatum) macerated in olive oil

There are three main types of maceration:

  • Aqueous maceration : they are performed in water. Therefore, in case of flowers or leaves, we will put them in a bowl of water for 12 hours. Hardest parts such as bark, roots, stems or seeds should be allowed to stand for 24 hours.
  • Oily maceration: The maceration is done in oil. In this case the the plant parts must be soaked in oil between 1 month and a half year.
  • Alcoholic maceration: When maceration is carried out in alcohol. In this case the process can be extended from several weeks to several months. Sometimes it takes years to get a full maceration.

Once the product is macerated, it must be stored in an opaque container. There are special glass containers to save these preparations in health food stores and specialty shops.

Can we macerate in another way?

More rarely, but macerations can be done with other liquids o semi-liquid combinations such as the one depicted in this page, where ginger is macerated in honey

How many doses of maceration should be taken daily?

Usually, we can take 2 to three cups a day for aqueous maceration and one drink per day if it is alcoholic maceration.

How to preserve macerations?

In case of aqueous macerations, they should be consumed within 12 or 24 hours, keeping them in the refrigerator or in a cool place. Alcoholic maceration can be stored in a cool place where they can take much longer.

SOME MACERATIONS

Among the most commonly used macerations, we can point out the following:

How to macerate ginger in honey

Trocear el jengibre

Wash, peel and cut some ginger

ginger is cut

We cut it in pieces

We fill the jar with honey

We fill the jar with honey and leave the ginger to macerate in it for 6 hours. Honey absorbs ginger properties and becomes aphrodisiac, antiemetic and antibiotic.

punto rojoMore information on other medicinal plant preparations.

This article was endorsed by Elisenda Carballido - Dietitian nutritionist. Postgraduate in Phytotherapy and master in Nutrition and Metabolism.
Editorial
Written by Editorial Botanical-online team in charge of content writing

14 June, 2022

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