Guide for using herbs in juice. Enhance your fresh juice with herbal remedies

Using herbs can be very beneficial for your health. Herbs come in many forms…fresh, dried, in tinctures and dried powders. The good news is, you can use it in any of these forms by adding it to your juice.

They all require different preparation, but yield the same results. Using herbs is a good way to get nutrients through fresh juice. I find that tinctures are the easiest and keep many on hand. For herbs that are good for virus and colds (like boneset and red raspberry leaf), I prefer to keep these in dried form to make a water infusion (tea), but this is just my preference.

My two favorite brands are HerbPham (which can be found in some supermarkets or at iherb-see below) and Pure Herbs.

Whole fresh leaves and roots

Because fresh is always the best way to eat any food, this is the best way to take herbs with your juice.

Roll leaves in a ball and feed through juicing tube with other ingredients. Roots can be fed through without rolling into a ball.  You aren't going to get much juice out of them, but that's fine.  Herbs are potent and medicinal so you only need a little.  The flavor can also overpower the juice so less is more when juicing herbs.

Dried powdered herbs

Dried powdered herbs keep well for a long time. Not only can they easily be added to regular food recipes, they can be added to juices or smoothies that easily mask the herbs taste.

Whisk 1 tsp of powder into 1 cup of juice or add to ingredients in blended juice.

 

Tea/water infusion

This method of using herbs is probably the most common. Many dried herbs can be hard to find and this is why I prefer tinctures for most occassions.

In a teapot pour 1/4 cup boiling water over 1 tbsp of fresh or 1 tsp of dried herb. Steep for about 10 minutes and drain. You can also achieve this same effect with a tea ball by placing the herb into the ball and pouring the boiling water over top in a cup. Add liquid to one cup of juice.

Tincture

Add 1 tsp or desired amount to 1 cup of juice (the easiest, right?) Plus, you can order these herbs online or many times, supermarkets are stocked with them for last minute needs. This is my prefered method of enhancing my juice with herbs. I find it easy and it blends in very well without any trace of taste.

Decoction

Gently simmer one tsp of chopped dried herb into ¼ cup of water for 10 minutes. Strain, discard herb and add liquid to one cup of juice. This method works well for roots and hearty plants.

Return from Using Herbs to Juicing Guide