Every year we use wild lettuce for food. We like a bit of bitterness. It does well for our palates as 1/4 of a salad. Wilted with sauteed onions it can be the only green. We still like it as the center stalk reaches tall.
Guess what I found in the back of my cupboard? A half ass attempt of wild lettuce tincture. Now I remember chopping up a fresh wild lettuce plant that reached 6 foot tall. It had fully plump flower buds, but had not flowered yet. I read somewhere that is when the plant is most potent. The stalk and leaves and buds were chopped up enough to fit in a half gallon jar, mushed down and covered with everclear. (180 proof alcohol) According to my label, it sat for 6 months and was decanted. In 2022.
I tried it out. As expected, it tastes horrible. The plant itself is bitter. BUT! About 30 drops is as effective as 15 drops of commercial teasle root tincture. Which by the way, tastes pretty good. They each give me equal relief from muscle/nerve pain. Neither do anything for headaches. (Cue to feel sorry for me.
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By the way, it does noithing to alter you perception of reality. This was expected from information from several herbalists I trust.
We tried collecting and drying the sap for pain. Neither smoking nor injestion did anything for Hunny's pain. Again, no alterations of reality.
