How to tone down a tincture with cayenne that is too hot

vickeym

I have been having issues with my leg, that in almost a year they still don't know what is causing it. After meeting and discussing with someone who has lymphedema, I'm thinking this is a possibility.

I ordered the lymphatic support powder from Dr Patrick Jones (Homegrownherbalist.net).

It contains Calendula, Cleavers, Echinacea, Devil's Claw and Cayenne. I made a tincture with it, which is now ready. It is so hot to me it is burning my mouth and lips so much that I am desperate to tone it down. I even grabbed a jar of honey and spread it on my lips and sucked on a spoonful trying to stop the burn. I have tried milk and a chunk of dark chocolate.

Last night we had beef stew and rice and I tried taking the tincture with a mouthful of food. I think it was even hotter than without it.

The directions say Tinctures for Adults: 1/4 to 1 teaspoon 2-3 times daily. Or Powders for Adults: 1-2 rounded teaspoons 2-3 times daily.

I have been taking a teaspoon since the original on my leg has increased drastically since my first visit to the doctor about it. But it is so hot (to me) I am having a heard time taking it during the day at work and it is not much easier when I am home trying to choke it down.

I'm off grid so making smoothies and such won't work and not sure I could drink a large glass of anything spicy like this.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Torey Thoughts?

Torey

I've been thinking about this. Not sure how to do that once it has been made into a tincture except to dilute it with tinctures of the other ingredients in the original formula. That would likely be quite expensive buying or making that many other tinctures.

Not to question Doc Jones' formulations, as he has much more training and experience than I have, but he does seem to be very fond of quite a bit of cayenne in his formulae. Not everyone is able to take the same doses of this as others may be able to. I can see the benefit of adding cayenne to this formula but I probably wouldn't use the amount he does. Its all about patient compliance. There's no point in making suggestions that people just can't follow through on because of the taste.

There may be additional effect from the echinacea. It can have a tingling effect on the tongue that might be accentuating the heat of the cayenne.

I see that it was sold in a 6 oz. package. Have you used the whole package? If not you might be able to find more powders to add to this to make it more tolerable.

You could try adding your tincture to tomato juice with a squeeze of lemon juice. That might help tone it down a bit. Then you'd have a spicy, virgin bloody Mary. :)

vickeym

@LaurieLovesLearning and @Torey Thank you for helping. Doc Jones recommended putting the tincture in water or juice and drinking it. Not too sure that will work. The tomato juice might be good. So far I've had the most success with cream cheese or crumbled goat cheese which has a similar texture to cream cheese.

I take a spoonful and let it coat my mouth, then a teaspoon of the tincture followed by another spoonful of the cheese. It has helped, but being off grid, I don't always have those on hand.

kbmbillups1

I don't know about diluting a tincture, but I do know about hot foods. I love them but my husband can't take them. He sweats and coughs and has a hard time eating the mildest hot food. He puts sour cream in anything mildly hot. You could try that. Not sure how it would taste with your tincture though. If you add them both to tomato juice it might be good.

vickeym

The tomato juice is helping a lot. Will try it with sour cream tomorrow. Just got some. Hoping we don't get more snow dumped too soon. We got 9 inches through the night into early morning. Anchorage as of yesterday morning had gotten just over 39 inches so far in November. The average yearly snowfall there is about 75 or so inches a year.

They are predicting the snow forecast to start tomorrow night to be more that we just got. Schools have been shut down for three days, our local clinic was closed today as most of the employees had not been plowed yet and couldn't get to work.

Looks like it's going to be an interesting week.

kbmbillups1

@vickeym I have a friend from Alaska and she was telling me she'd been talking to friends up there. They all told her they're tired of the snow already.

Hopefully, the sour cream help!!!

water2world

@ vickeym Growing up in a large family (my Grandmother had 9 children) in Louisiana, where some like it very spicy and others not so hot, I've always heard that milk will take the heat away. Being one that loves heat, I've not tried it, but others have their milk ready!

I looked this up on line-The Dairy Alliance. Interesting---Why your Spicy Food needs Milk.

https://thedairyalliance.com/blog/why-your-spicy-food-needs-milk/

Couldn't hurt to try!

LaurieLovesLearning

@water2world We've used milk when food gets spicy.

The problem comes in when we are not at home & either there is no milk available or it is processed (which I can't have).

VermontCathy

Sour cream is a standard cooling ingredient for hot foods. Indians (from the subcontinent, not North America) routinely put it on their hot, spicy food.

It should work well for the tincture.