Simple syrups are a fun and surprisingly useful ingredient to keep on hand in your refrigerator, especially when they are infused with your favorite herbs. A lot of people think of mocktails or cocktails when they think of simple syrups, and that’s definitely a good use for them. But they are equally wonderful added to carbonated water, as sweetener in tea, brushed on cakes or cupcakes, drizzled on yogurt or pancakes, and more. They are called “simple” syrup for a reason—if you can boil water, you can make simple syrup. And infusing simple syrups with herbs takes them from being a good ingredient to an amazing one! 

Readers of the Mountain Rose Herbs blog know that one of our primary concerns is the ongoing and increasing impact of overharvesting on wild plants. Some of the most popular medicinal herbs in the world—for example, goldenseal, bloodroot, black cohosh, trillium, and osha—are at risk and/or endangered. As well as rampant wildharvesting, these precious botanicals are impacted by land use issues and climate change, which are becoming more problematic. As a bulk herbs company dedicated to putting people, plants, and planet before profit, we believe it is our responsibility to do everything possible to find solutions for our herbal allies. One way we do that is to work within the regulations set forth by CITES—the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Learning to read and assess scientific research articles is an important skill for the modern herbalist. The information is literally at our fingertips, however, we do need to know how to interpret it. As herbalists, our information is scrutinized. Someone can be on seven medications with dangerous side effects, but when something goes wrong, it will be blamed on the lavender in their deodorant. If we make the wrong claims, we can risk serious repercussions.

If you’re anything like me, you don’t like to waste. When you enjoy herbal preparations as part of your daily routine, you are bound to wind up with a stockpile of perfectly good containers that can still be used. But how can you make sure they are cleaned well enough to reuse, and how can you continue to put them to use time and time again? Here are some tips and tricks to help you keep those bottles in circulation.

My youngest son loves ramen: both the hand-pulled noodle restaurant version and the instant kind. His passion for instant ramen is left over from his first foray, years ago, into the adult world of supporting himself on minimum wage. Thankfully, as he’s matured, he’s become more concerned about eating real food without the MSG, tBHQ, and astronomically high sodium content that is typical in grocery store ramen. But quick easy ramen is still the food he reaches for when he’s in a hurry and needs a fast meal… which explains my quest to develop an easy, healthy, homemade bouillon powder/paste that he can add to his noodle bowls in place of those unhealthy flavor packets that come in store-bought instant ramen noodles.

Many people want to get away from conventional hair and skin care products for two important reasons; they are full of unpronounceable synthetic ingredients that make it nearly impossible to know what we’re rubbing all over our bodies, and those over-the-counter products are packaged in materials that often can’t be reused or recycled. A lot of us first came to herbalism looking for natural, DIY alternatives. But in regard to skin and hair care formulations, it’s often not so simple.

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) a plant highly praised in the Ayurvedic tradition, is in the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family. It’s been said that the herb may give both energy and calmness to those plagued with physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. The species name somnifera means sleep-inducing, whereas ashwagandha comes from the Sanskrit words “ashva” and “gandha,” meaning “horse smell” since some think the roots of this calming plant smell like a horse. To each their own in the smell department; however, being a trophorestorative herb, it can bring “horselike” strength and vitality when used consistently over time.  Ashwagandha has also been known to have a positive effect on cortisol levels due to real and perceived stress triggers and their subsequent physical and emotional symptoms. With stress being a way of life for many, the release of stress may also result in increased vigor and energy.

In the cycle of the year, I find the weeks between Imbolc (February) and Beltane (end of April) to be a precious, restful time in which I finally have space to be creative. We’re past the months of food preserving and winter holidays and not yet at the point when I will jump back into the annual joy/work of my yard, garden, and orchard. This is the only time of the year when I don’t have a dozen other priorities vying for my attention. It is an ideal moment to take a look at my apothecary and think about the herbs that I should use up before they start to get old. As well as making tinctures, glycerine extracts, and infused honey, I find this to be a perfect opportunity to make herb-infused spirits to add to my liquor cabinet for handcrafted cocktails throughout the year. I recently combed back through Mountain Rose Herbs blogs for inspiration, and—as usual—came up with infusion gold. I’m excited to share three reader-tested, herb-infused distilled spirits recipes with you!

Infusions are an enjoyable method for savoring and receiving the benefits of herbs. Also referred to simply as tea, an herbal infusion is technically called a tisane and involves steeping fresh or dried herbs in water for a period of time. The water used for an infusion can be hot or cold depending on the herbs you use and the effect you desire, as well as your preference and mood. In this blog, we are going to focus on what a cold infusion is, what herbs work best with this method, and how to make a cold infusion. 

At Mountain Rose Herbs, we talk a lot about the importance of labeling homemade herbal remedies, essential oil blends, and the other handcrafted goods that we put in our apothecaries and gift to our loved ones. Proper labeling makes at-a-glance identification easy, ensures we have appropriate dosage information, and helps us keep track of the age of our formulations. On a purely practical level, it also makes it easier to avoid having a cupboard full of unused mystery bottles. We may think we will never forget what we put in that tincture, tea, or aromatherapy blend, or we may have the best intentions of making a label and writing helpful notes later. But then life happens, and we put it off. So there we are weeks or months after, realizing we can no longer remember the exact proportions or even which tincture is which. We have all been there and done that.

Alcohol-based perfumes never sounded attractive to me. I always thought using them would make me smell like I just came from the bar, which is generally not the vibe I am going for. This aversion persisted until I discovered tonka beans (Dipteryx odorata) and learned that alcohol extraction is the best way to bring out their dreamy aroma! Tonka beans are an excellent alternative to vanilla beans in aromatherapy creations and are roughly five times less expensive than vanilla, so you can save your true vanilla for cooking and use tonka beans to get those highly coveted notes for perfumery.