Different ways of using plants

As a spice
This is the simplest use in cooking. Herbs are used fresh (chives, parsley, etc.) or dried. Drying is only for preservation.

Infusion (herbal tea)

A distinction is made between infusion (infus) and decoction (decoction):

Infusion: The dried plants (= herbal tea plant*) are poured into boiling water, left to infuse and then filtered through a sieve.

Decoction: The dried plants are covered in cold water, brought to the boil and then cooked for a few minutes before being filtered. This process is used mainly for the hard parts (bark, roots, etc.) to extract the active substances.
Hard parts can also be macerated cold for several hours (ideally overnight), then heated or boiled as required.

Fresh plants do not necessarily have to be dried to be used in infusions. Since most of the plant is water, the dose should be increased.

The taste may differ: drying alters certain components and may result in the loss of volatile oils (e.g. essential oils).

In tincture form
Maceration is the simplest method. Generally, 20 g of dried, finely chopped plant are placed in 100 ml of alcohol (60-90%) in an airtight jar, away from light, for 10 days at room temperature.

Stir the mixture at least once a day. Then filter and squeeze out the remains. Store the tincture in a dark bottle.

Unlike traditional tinctures, homeopathic mother tinctures are almost always prepared from fresh plants.

As an oily macerate
The plants (often fresh) are covered in vegetable oil (e.g. olive oil) and left to macerate before being filtered. This is how St John’s Wort oil (or red oil) is made.

Pressed juice
You can find pressed juices of medicinal plants or vegetables in specialist shops, for use in a variety of cures.

In syrup

Plant syrup: fresh plants are macerated with ground candy sugar. Example: fir sprout syrup.
In pharmacies, extracts are also prepared by adding hot sugar or a defined quantity of tincture diluted in simple syrup (sirupus simplex).

Fruit syrup: raspberry, elderberry, redcurrant or cherry syrup.
(The word ‘drug’ here refers to a dried plant used in phytotherapy, not a psychotropic substance).