|
Are organic ingredients available?
|
|
We can use certified organically grown herbs to produce a product if the herbs are available at the time of production. It is important to investigate what claims you can and cannot make on your label regarding this issue.
|
|
|
|
|
Do you use standardized extracts for developing extracts?
|
|
The option to use standardized extracts is available to our clients. Liquid products can be made that utilize extracted herbal powders, standardized to specific known compounds. We can utilize such standardized extracts and solubilize them into a liquid format so that each dose from each bottle will be identical.
|
|
|
How can an extract be made to taste better?
|
|
Flavors and fruit concentrates can be added along with sweeteners such as glycerin to make the product pleasing or palatable. Extracts have unique tastes that suggest what flavoring might work with them. If a client has a special request regarding the flavor, we will attempt to achieve it.
|
|
|
How strong will my extract be?
|
|
An extract can be made that varies in strength from 1.6 lbs per end gallon up to 36 lbs per end gallon. The amount of herb that is used to create a gallon of end product is the simplest way to talk about the strength of a product. Generally we make extracts that start at 1.6 Lbs per end gallon. This is equivalent to a product that is 23.27 times stronger than a cup of normal tea!! When you make a cup of tea you put about 2 grams of tea into 8 ounces of water. If this were extrapolated, this means that 1.1 ounces of herbal material would be used to make a gallon of “tea strength” extract. That is why much smaller amounts of extract is required to be effective. We can make extract that begins at 1.6 lbs per gallon and increases in strength from that point.
|
|
|
Is alcohol a necessary ingredient in extracts?
|
|
Alcohol is a great solvent for extracting the active constituents from herbs. It also acts a great preservative. We can extract using water after which we must add a preservative. Alcohol, glycerin or a preservative system that combines potassium sorbate in with sodium benzoate are all used as preservatives.
|
|
|
|
