Jungle Juice

We get many letters everyday asking questions about how to use herbs, what books to use, where to buy herbs, and what to do about certain ailments. We were not called to a ministry of herbs; it is just a personal interest. So I want to give you a favorite herbal recipe, a name of a good, easy to understand book, and a place to order herbs, and then you are on your own.

Preachers often use a lot more mental, emotional, and physical energies than men of other professions. Much of the time, they are running on spent reserves. A preacher's mind has to be working in top form all the time. When minerals and vitamins are lacking, the mind will be the first to suffer. For the sake of his ministry, I knew Mike needed to think clearly and stay healthy. I began working on a liquid herbal formula that would supply the minerals and vitamins he needed. I don’t know how, but it acquired the name Jungle Juice.

Because of its success, I began to pass it out to other preachers we knew that had demanding ministries. They saw the difference and started asking for more. I gave some to my old Dad, 75 years old, and he came skipping back demanding more. I alter the recipe according to special needs. I double the Bilberry for someone with vision problems. For men with prostate trouble, I use 1 cup of crushed Saw Palmetto berries, which I soak in consumable alcohol for 3 weeks (1/3 herb to 2/3 vodka) before straining the used herb out and adding the alcohol tincture to the finished Jungle Juice. If I am making the tincture for a woman, I drop the Saw Palmetto and add one cup Red Raspberry and 2 cups Oat Straw.

For those suffering from chronic high blood pressure, it is helpful to add 1/2 cup ground Hawthorn berries to the recipe.

People given to nervousness or anxiety, who want an alternative to drugs, can add 1 cup of St. John's Wort. If you know you are low in iron or have some other malady, look it up in Nutritional Herbology, then add the herbs that best meet your needs.

I use whole or cut herbs rather than powered because powdered herbs lose their potency sooner. Grind or break herbs in the blender or grinder. Mix dry herbs together, place in a jar, seal, label, and then store. These dry, mixed herbs can be made into a tincture as needed. For making 3 cups of finished, liquid, herbal tincture, fill a quart jar 1/3 full with the crushed, dried herb mixture. Pour boiling water over herb mixture until it is all wet (about 1/2 cup). Fill the jar to within one inch of the top with food grade glycerin. Stir the thick goo until mixed, then cap with a tight lid. Place a small kitchen towel in the bottom of a slow cooker, so as to protect the jar from direct heat, then fill pot half full of water. Put the sealed jar on the towel, in the water, in the crock pot, and then put on the crock lid. Turn on lowest heat for 3 days. It should not boil, but be hot to touch. Stir the hot herb-goo every day. Do not let the crock get too low on water. After 3 days, strain the hot herb mixture (I use a tee shirt) from the now dark, warm glycerin (be careful, its hot)! If you have already soaked Saw Palmetto in alcohol as described above then pour this over the warm herbs, adding the alcohol to the glycerin tincture. Throw the used herbs away and store the liquid (now tincture) in a tightly capped bottle. Be sure to label. Keep in a dark, cool place.

Because Jungle Juice is in essence an intensive food rather than a drug, use common sense to decide how much you need to take.

I put my finished liquid tincture in an empty hot-sauce bottle and Mike takes a swig (1 or 2 teaspoons) 2 or 3 times every day. If he is traveling and speaking he takes more.

Most herbs are naturally organic, simply because bugs don't bother strong smelling herbs, and herbs as a rule require poor soil.

Penn Herbs, 10601 Decatur Road, Suite #2, Philadelphia, PA 19154-3293, has a big variety of loose herbs as well as many different products.

The Bulk Herb Store, www.bulkherbstore.com, is a less expensive place to buy bulk herbs. They also sell a book called Nutritional Herbology, by Mark Pedersen, at a lower price than is available anywhere else. It is an excellent, easy to understand book. It has listed many herbal combinations for different complaints. Although I have many herbal and medical books, this is the one I use for fast reference. If you have a question on how to use herbs, chances are you will find the answer in this book. So for all you who have written me asking herbal questions and have not received an answer, this article is my answer.You now know a place to buy herbs, a good book to use as reference, and an herbal recipe that is standard fare at the Pearl house.

Recipe:

• 2 cups Alfalfa is high in beta-carotene and functions as a detoxifier.
• 2 cups Bilberry has marvelous anti-aging properties, strengthen eyes.
• 1 cup Butcher's Broom is one of nature's most potent remedies for circulatory ailments.
• 2 cups Ginkgo Leaf is known as brain food. It increases peripheral blood flow.
• 1 cup Nettle Leaf is very high in calcium, chromium, magnesium and zinc.
• 1/2 cup Saw Palmetto Berries reduce prostatic enlargement. Its nutritional profile includes high levels of phosphorus, potassium, riboflavin, selenium, silicon, thiamine, and zinc.
• 2 cups Korean or Siberian Ginseng is highly valued for its adaptogenic abilities, which means it helps the body correct itself and bring its own healing. Olympic athletes all over the world use it to negate stress effects, and to enhance performance and endurance. Due to being one of the most studied herbs on the market, its effectiveness has been proven.
• 1/2 cup Turmeric Powder is a powerful anti-oxidant, showing activities as much as 300 times greater than that of vitamin E.
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne (optional) It causes the body to break down other herbs in the digestive system.