Liquid Herb Dietary Supplements
Prior to 1980 the herbal industry standard process was primarily reliant on an alcohol base for extracting oils from raw herbs. L. Carl Robinson determined that a liquid delivery of herbs was far more efficient than what dried herbal products were capable of, however, he asked two question, “Why is alcohol still the primary solvent used for liquid herbal tinctures/extracts in the liquid herbal products industry?” And, “Why are the process methodologies used for tincturing herbs so antiquated and not current to known science proven concepts?”
Carl recalled in his chemistry studies that alcohol (i.e. grain based ethanol) possess the intrinsic effects of denaturing and rendering inert many organic compounds that are present in herbs. Alternate methodologies are required to effectively retain the intrinsic biological nature of different compounds while extracting them from a raw material.
From these considerations Carl developed a multi-step process that utilizes the non-alcohol solvent glycerin for making liquid herbal concentrates. He named this unique technology the TincTract® process.
The TincTract® process is geared towards extracting heat sensitive water soluble compounds and critical heat required compounds and many non-water soluble compounds requiring a super-critical/clarifying step– all in one multi-step process!
A multi-step liquid processing approach had never been done in the liquid herbal products industry. The TincTract® process still holds the distinction of being the most thorough liquid herbal extraction technology in the herbal products industry.
What are the benefits of a botanical that has been subjected to the TincTract® process?
They are many:
• No alcohol is used at any time in the making of a ‘Genuine TincTract® Made’ product. This means the components extracted from a botanical are not subjected to alcohol’s denaturing and/or inert rendering effects. For instance, aromatic compounds are not denatured that would result in their diminishing their efficacy, and many polysaccharides, especially the linked and cross-linked ones, can be extracted and not crystalized (denatured) and rendered inert as alcohol does to polysaccharides.
• There is an emerging controversy in the liquid herbal products industry concerning the fact that single pass distilled alcohol being made from grains may also contain pass-through gluten particles that can set off gluten sensitivity issues. What is known is that only grain alcohol that has been double, and even better, triple distilled, can be deemed to be completely free of pass through gluten factors. Most companies using grain alcohol utilize the single distilled variety as the double/triple distilled variety can be prohibitively expensive. Because no alcohol is ever used in a TincTract® process, all the resulting products are gluten-free!
• The intrinsic taste quality of an herb is retained, indicating that the biological viability remains intact, so much so that a finished TincTract® made liquid herb possesses a taste quality remarkably similar to the fresh harvested botanical itself. No other liquid herbal processing technology possesses this quality in the industry and it has become a hallmark of our ‘Genuine TincTract® Made’ products.
• TincTract® liquid herbal products are the most ‘concentrated’ herbal extracts of a ‘whole’ herb based nature available in the marketplace. The generational improvements and enhancements to the TincTract® process have resulted in the recommended per dose amount going from 1 teaspoonful down to ¼ teaspoonful. This means that on a per dose basis ‘Genuine TincTract® Made’ products are one of the most economical liquid herbal products for day-to-day use.
• All ‘Genuine TincTract® Made’ products are Kosher certified by an OU recognized kashrus certifying organization, and are FDA cGMP passed/compliant – two of the most rigorous and stringent independent third party QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) implemented standards available to our industry.
• Our ‘Genuine TincTract® Made’ products are not only in our flagship Cedar Bear retail brand product lines, but are private labeled for other retail brands, and included as ingredients in other company’s products – that’s how effective and trusted our TincTract® products are.
