Let's look at a few fun ways to analyze tinctures.
For this batch, I made two lemon balm tinctures in vodka: one with fresh blended herb, one with dried. Blending the fresh plant right into the menstruum shreds the cells, opens up more surface area, and lets those bright green chlorophylls, carotenoids, and volatile oils move quickly into the vodka.
Both jars went onto low‑heat candle warmers (with silicone trivets) to gently speed extraction. (Never use open flames with alcohol, ever, but the electric candle warmers are great). I cap them without the metal ring so the lid can pop if any pressure builds.
When I shine a flashlight through them, the fresh tincture glows vivid green from chlorophyll and other fresh pigments, while the dried tincture runs red‑amber from a higher load of oxidized polyphenols like rosmarinic and caffeic acids that concentrate during drying.
The other photos show a red laser shining through the tinctures. The fresh tincture shows a cloudy, glowing beam because it is full of colloids; tiny droplets of essential oil and suspended plant particles that scatter the light (the Tyndall effect). The dried tincture is clearer, so the beam passes straight through showing fewer colloids and less turbidity.
So which is “better”?
Fresh lemon balm holds more of those delicate volatile oils- citral, neral, geranial, citronellal, and more. You can literally smell them leaving the plant, which is why fresh tinctures are often preferred for very aromatic herbs. Dried lemon balm leans into the phenolic side of its medicine, pulling more rosmarinic acid and other stable antioxidants that give a deeper, redder, more grounding profile.
As with most things in herbalism, there isn’t one right way...just different expressions of the same plant. The art is knowing what you’re trying to extract (and why), then choosing your material and method to match.
