Tinctures sat for six months

I made numerous tinctures last June. At the end of July we packed up our home and moved far away. I thought I'd have them out in a couple weeks but life doesn't always go as planned. Most of our house has been in storage since, including the tinctures I couldn't find. Found the box today and I'm wondering if there's a chance they are okay even though the herbs are still in there 8 months later? I don't see any cloudiness or odd looking anything. I'd love to not have to start over. I have some in alcohol, some in vinegar and some in veg glycerin.

Any advice is surely appreciated.

And HAPPY SPRING ALL!

Happy Spring! I'm no expert, but I have left alcohol tinctures unstrained for longer than that with no issues. I can't speak to the vinegar or glycerin ones, as I haven't worked with either. I was under the impression that the shelf life of vinegar extracts wasn't particularly long, maybe six months? But again, I have no experience with them. I think as long as they look okay, open them and see what your nose tells you, then go from there.

You said they were in storage. Under what conditions? If they were in a climate controlled situation, that's probably quite different than if they were experiencing temperature fluctuations. Hopefully someone else has better answers for you and your tinctures can be saved!

Six months? Still quite young, I would say. Now, I can't vouch for the medicinal strength of the compounds, but something preserved in alcohol will stay....well, a long time.

As for the flavor--it only gets better! The old Europeans would put keep their tinctures for decades, but some of it was beyond medicinal, like, a snake or a toad or something in their eau-de-vie. Usually it was more like cherries or herbs. That is actually the point of aged whiskey; instead of an herbal tincture it's a charred oak tincture and it just gets better and better. And of course there is no end to the human-body-preserved-in-whiskey-barrel stories.

I usually make too much tincture, so I end up blending many of them, adding some maple syrup and letting them sit 3 months AT LEAST before enjoying with guests as liqueur.

The same goes for vinegar. The flavor gets better with time, but perhaps the medicinal compounds are not as active?

I wouldn't be afraid to use them, though they may taste a little strong. I have read herbal books most of my life and I'm 52.I am still a beginner though and most of the books I look threw are anywhere from the 1500s to now. I have a place I go to, and if you register, you can download 10 a day free. I probably have 300 medical herb books downloaded,, not counting all the cookbooks downloaded. It is very interesting what they used 150 years age, and how they used it.some of it I would never use though. Kinda dangerous using jimson weed, belladonna, wolfs bane, and some even more dangerous. I am a little curious as to what the tinctures are though.

Melonie, I have two bottles of lemon balm tincture that are over three years old, each with a sprig of the plant.

I use the tincture regularly and I continue to add the liquid to refresh the tincture to keep it growing.

The main reason I did this was my plant died and has not been replanted. Maybe one of these days ...

As far as I know, tincture are the best way for conserving herbs long term, because they contain alcohol. They can't go bad. I've heard of tinctures that are over50 years old, and still perfectly usable.

Heather is correct, with her questions about the storage conditions. Cold is rarely an issue, but too hot can quickly deteriorate the glycerine, and more slowly, the vinegar based ones.

Personally, I'd use the alcohol ones without hesitation, for years yet to come. The vinegar ones, I'd try to use within the next year, and the glycerine ones, within the next six months, a long as there are no 'off' smells, colors, or films on top. The advantage to being in storage all this time, is two-fold: 1 - they've been unopened, so no exposure to contaminants, or oxidation, and 2 - that it's probably safe to guess they were all in the dark. The light will destroy them faster than mildly-to-moderately fluctuating temperatures, and just as quickly as extended, high temperatures.