Author Topic: milk thistle seed juice  (Read 9299 times)

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Offline svrn

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milk thistle seed juice
« on: May 08, 2012, 04:30:17 am »
I have a whole lot of milk thistle seeds laying around right now from when used to eat them a bit for my gallbladder. I feel like they did help a bit however they are so fibrous that I hate eating them and feel that they dont digest well.

What if I put these in the juicer? I dont see myself eating these incredibly fibrous things whole again anytime soon so I would do it even if its not that efficient.
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Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2012, 05:11:31 am »
No herbalist would ever use milk thistle seeds themselves. Seeds like that you would use in a decoction or a tincture. You can't juice seeds. You could soak, blenderize them and make them into a seed milk though. Personally - I prefer milk thistle in the tincture form.

Offline svrn

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2012, 05:42:24 am »
yes I was thinking about the tincture as well. What kind of alcohol would you recommend for tincture making? Should I grind up my seeds before making the tincture?

I would still like to hear what others say about seeds in the juicer however since I have heard of people putting seeds and nuts in the juicer before and getting a sort of milk or paste.
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Offline jessica

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2012, 06:11:07 am »
the seed hull of the milk thistle is the most medicinal, i agree that it has beneficial properties when eaten as a seed, i enjoy it and find more benefit from it when i grind it up into a flour with a coffee grinder, i am sure the more paleo version of this would be morter and pestle but i am lazy :p.......
you can buy tinctures that are alcohol, if you want to go that route you can do what is called a folk method by i would roughly crushing up the seeds, loading them into a jar and then filling it with alcohol, you have to get some super high quality and proof vodka, or everclear, that works, there is also special types of alcohols specifically for this but you would have to have a supplier in town, cover the crushed up seeds and put a lid on the jar, store it in a cool dry place, shaking it a few times each day for two weeks

 i have had friend do this with red wine and different herbs, vinegars work as well too, glycerin is another option but you would have to figure out that method, it may involve heat and also i am not sure the beneficial chemicals in the milk thistle come out with that method.....at any rate i would say grind up those seeds and then chaw down a big mouth full, just chew it forever, i think they are delicious this way and especially with ground meat and egg yolks and some herbs kinda like a weird medicinal raw meat loaf
« Last Edit: May 08, 2012, 06:32:05 am by jessica »

Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2012, 08:06:10 am »
Making the seed into a flour - that's an idea - I just never use flour for anything.
I've soaked the seeds and tried to chew on them - but they are so very fibrous - so like you Troll - not for me and it's not how herbalists use the seed. Seed like that is usually thought to need extraction in order to get the benefits.
Everclear I don't think is a good idea because if you don't evaporate every little bit of the alcohol out of it you will get loopy pretty darn fast at such a proof.
I just use a good vodka. Sky is the one I get because I can get that cheap enough in a big and very pretty blue bottle that I reuse. With seeds the most effective extraction medium is alcohol.
I like to make a 2:1 extraction. Stores usually have a 5:1 where they put 5 times as much alcohol as herb - but if you are making it yourself the alcohol is the biggest cost and you can just take care to realize that your herbal tincture is stronger and dose accordingly.

I put the seeds in a glass jar up to the middle and fill it all the way with vodka. I shake it once a day but not always. Sometimes I just leave them sitting there for months. Usually if you want to the tincture to be strong enough in two week you would put it in a clear jar in the sun. Instead I just leave it on the counter and shake when I remember (if I remember) and use it eventually. It's not an exact science. There's lots of room for wiggling. If I have a lot of an herb I will just take the alcohol out of one bottle and leave the other bottles to make sure every little bit of what I want out of the seed is extracted.

You can make seeds into cream - I do that all the time in my high-powered blenders adding a little water or you can put them through a champion juicer or in a food processor with some water.

Good luck!

Offline svrn

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2012, 01:43:50 am »
What im wondering though is if theres a raw non gmo, non pesticide alcohol I can use for this extraction. I know theres plenty of wines I can get like that but Id have to drink a good amount of wine to get the medicinal effects which I dont want to do. I want something as strong as everclear so I can just take a few drops and be good.
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Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2012, 02:07:41 am »
80 proof vodka is what works best - the higher proof will not increase the strength of the tincture. You will get the same medicinal affect from vodka as from everclear.

You can buy organic vodka. Just google it.

Distillation though I don't believe can be done raw - but I've never distilled alcohol at home as it's too easy to create explosions and is therefore illegal.

Offline svrn

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2012, 02:08:47 am »
how do i know if its raw tho? Does it matter too much?
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Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2012, 02:09:37 am »
Oh that was a fast response! I modified my message above before I saw your post.

Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2012, 02:14:33 am »
I mean - distillation is - if I understand it correctly - is using heat to make things into gases and then condensing them back. I don't think it's possible to distill without heat - but again - I'm not into that aspect - just into the tincturing and herbs.

But the beauty of alcohol tincture is that you can just let the alcohol evaporate and be left with the healing qualities of the herb in your tea.

Offline svrn

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2012, 02:39:21 am »
Doesnt evaporating require heat as well?

I thought distillation wasnt a necessary aspect of alcohol distillation.
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Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2012, 03:25:11 am »
I think you will have to ask someone with experience and knowledge regarding making spirits or at least the science of distillation about details on that subject. Regular distillation according to my very limited knowledge necessitates bringing up to the temperature where the substance turns into it's gaseous state - which can mean some high heats. But - remember - once you break something down into gases - just like with distilled water - it could mean that the heavy particles including toxic substances can be left behind - so take that into consideration when researching how important organic and raw is to you in regard to alcohol.

However I do know and have lots of experience with evaporation. If you put the alcohol/tincture in a glass of water and leave it sitting on your counter the alcohol will evaporate - much like if you left the cap off of isopropyl alcohol in the bathroom it will evaporate - much faster than water does. I usually put my tinctures into hot/warm water. Raw itself isn't always what is the most important. When it comes to teas and tinctures there are no fibrous materials to broken down that would necessitate lots of enzymatic activity and when it comes to herbs - lots of time heat can help bring forth the most important healing components of the herb - releasing them to be used by the body.


Offline svrn

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2012, 04:15:49 am »
Raw itself isn't always what is the most important. When it comes to teas and tinctures there are no fibrous materials to broken down that would necessitate lots of enzymatic activity and when it comes to herbs - lots of time heat can help bring forth the most important healing components of the herb - releasing them to be used by the body.

where can I read more about this?
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Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2012, 04:22:34 am »
Troll - I've been into herbs and raw foods for over 30 years - way before the advent of the computer. I'm sorry that I can't direct you to places where you can read more on the subject. I've read books on enzymes and have a collection of herbals (books on herbs) but basically, I just have a lot of experience with it.

Offline jessica

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2012, 06:56:41 am »
troll where do you live? if there is an herb shop close they may make their own tinctures and you may be able to ask the herbalist how or what or why, or someone teaching medicinal herb classes where you can learn to make them, other wise just do a bit of googling, or go to your local library and pick up some herb books.

Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #15 on: May 09, 2012, 07:17:03 am »
Jessica - it's unbelievably easy to make tinctures. I've been doing it for decades. I don't need a title to know what I'm talking about and he doesn't need to search. The only issue is whether or not he can get "raw" vodka - which I don't think is possible - but I can't tell him that for sure because I've never made my own vodka and no herbalist or herbal store does. He needs to research how vodka is made, talk to a distillery or the like. If he doesn't care about the vodka being raw he has everything he needs already just to do it. Put stuff in vodka, shake it sometimes, let it sit and you have tincture.

Offline jessica

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #16 on: May 09, 2012, 08:37:09 am »
yeah i think perhaps the amount of analysis, skepticism, perfectionism etc.....that goes on with life these days is more detrimental to the health then just doing and being..........chew up the seed flour brother!     i used to have a great link to how healthy the flour was, id have to do some serious googlin off to find it again.  vodka is heated in production though, they cook the grains and potatoes or whatever the medium is.  oregon grape root added to just boiling water and let steep is super strong and cleansing for the gall bladder and liver, but obviously not raw............

also dorothy you mentioned you never used flour, i dont either and dont really cook with the milk thistle seed flour, i just chew on it or add it to raw meat, it was interesting that i lived with a kid from Equador, he was a native that lived in the mountains and was considered pretty "uncivilized" by Ecuadorean standards, he would carry around in his little pouch roasted grains ground into a flour that he would chew on
« Last Edit: May 09, 2012, 08:47:53 am by jessica »

Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #17 on: May 09, 2012, 09:01:24 am »
I'll have to try chewing on flour - never even occurred to me to try it as a food all by itself uncooked. What's your favorite kind?

Offline svrn

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #18 on: May 10, 2012, 07:47:57 am »
Do you think it would be better to make a wine tincture and let the alcohol evaporate out of that?
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Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #19 on: May 10, 2012, 08:33:58 am »
I'm not sure that will work because milk thistle seeds need more proof than wine has usually - or so I was taught. The problem with wine for making tinctures also is that after you open the bottle it doesn't stay well even in the fridge. It goes bad.
But.................. you say you have a LOT of seeds right?

You could put some in vodka, put some in wine, soak some, grind some and make some into a paste and see which one works/tastes the best for you all along the way as the seeds are soaking. The wine would be a very gentle tincture as it would only last a few days - but it might be nice all the same. I wonder if you could use the seeds in the making of wine? I've never made wine - but I bet someone else here has.

Are you interested in the seeds for food or mostly for their medicinal content?

If it's for medicine I would just go ahead and use the vodka myself because that is tried and true method. It aint so easy to get that silymarin out of those tough little seeds.

Offline svrn

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #20 on: May 10, 2012, 09:22:32 am »
If I was going to use vodka might I just as well use the everclear?
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Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #21 on: May 10, 2012, 11:18:47 am »
Herbalists that use everclear cut it with water to make it the right concentration of alcohol. There are all sorts of rules about how much to cut it - but if you use regular vodka you don't have to think about any of that.

You can't get organic everclear as far as I know. If you wanted to use everclear instead of regular vodka I don't know why it wouldn't work the same (maybe just a little bit faster) except, if you don't evaporate all the alcohol you have 190 proof alcohol instead of 80. The higher the proof - the harder on your system. Some people say you gain nothing at all by using a higher proof (which I tend to believe) whereas some say it works a little bit faster. I just leave my tinctures in my tincture closet often for months on end - so having something be a little bit faster is moot for me. Organic though - that might be worth an upgrade to.

The bottom line is that vodka will work just as well, be cheaper, you can get it organic and if you drink the tincture without all the alcohol evaporated you are better off with regular vodka. Basically - everclear is overkill.

Everclear is a great thing for other purposes though when you need the least amount of water in your alcohol. I used it with essential oils.

Why are you asking about everclear - do you already have some?

Offline svrn

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #22 on: May 11, 2012, 01:36:15 am »
No i jsut figured its the most powerful. Organic vodka it shall be though.
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Offline Dorothy

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Re: milk thistle seed juice
« Reply #23 on: May 11, 2012, 02:57:55 am »
Best of luck with your new tincture project!  :D

Please let us know how it turns out.

 

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