Handling some of my basil surplus before it bolts. A bit of basil, some 190 proof everclear that someone donated. This will sit in a dark space for a few months. Basil lemonade is definitely on the menu. Maybe a vodka sauce for pasta.
this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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A few months? You'll get plenty of chlorophyll and other undesirables pulled that way. If you just want the flavor and essential oil you can freeze your plant material and the everclear, combine while still as cold as possible, shake for a few minutes... Maybe try a little bit and see if that might save you some time and give a better tasting extraction.
95% ethanol is pleanty strong enough for a quick extraction imho
I would love to know where you found this method? I have read a lot of herbalism books and went to school for Chemistry and nothing I have seen would suggest this. In fact my organic chemistry knowledge is screaming that making things colder make everything run slower. By freezing something you may be rupturing the cell walls but the ice crystals are shredding and denaturing all of the compounds you are extracting. As a general rule things move fast at higher temperatures since the average speed of the molecules increase which has more energy to react. If you wanted to get this done faster you would need to heat the solution not freeze it. Especially since OP is using the standard Folk Tincturing Method method which works great if not fast. I have seen modifications that start with the solution below boiling and then let sit for time but that is generally done with things like honey which is easier to pour that way. I haven't seen it with alcohol since that will reduce the alcohol content since the alcohol will boil before the water.
I know when making a cocktail you want to put the herbs in the cocktail shaker first and then muddle in some liquor. This will allow the cell walls to rupture and the alcohol will pull out all of the flavor. After you add ice and shake with the rest of the ingredients. The solid ice will continue to break the material and the additional water will extract additional materials while chilling down the drink which provides a better flavor. But you don't freeze it.
Cold fractionation with polar solvents is the best way to prevent degradation of the desirable compounds... IMHO Heat degrades and destroys many of the flavonoids and terpenes that you'd want from an herbal extraction.
Surprised with your background that you never needed that method, but we have found it to be useful for NMR and mass spec work.
When I was working I did more formulation (a.k.a. mixing and titration) and we had an analytical lab which did all of the NMR and mass spec work. Academics was all steam distillation.
It makes sense that heat degrades but that's why I keep it low and slow for extraction. Water baths and keeping everything below 140 °F at most with the ideal between 100-120°F. That is just for oil infusions for lotions and balms. I know for honey extraction you want to keep the enzymes active to keep it at most 100 °F. I do alcohol at room temp.
I will have to try the cold method. Sounds like fun. Any excuse to try something new. Also playing with dry ice is a hoot
I guess it depends on what you are trying to extract from what :) For smells and taste I like cold extractions best.
Didnt say anything about dry ice, but that would certainly be useful to quick freeze the plant material and crush it, more surface area is always good. I usually keep the ethanol around 18f, it still works as a solvent and you can filter out any excess water crystals when you are done if everything is kept below 30.
This method works well for cannabinoid extraction, which is what we were often working with, just fyi