HOME > ESSIAC FAQ > PROCESSING & STORING OUR ESSIAC TEA HERBS
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PROCESSING AND STORING OUR ESSIAC TEA HERBS
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ESSIAC CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
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HOW WE PROCESS, POWDER AND STORE OUR ESSIAC TEA HERBS
PRESERVING ESSIAC HERB QUALITY FOR LONG TERM STORAGE
THIS PAGE IS A CONTINUATION FROM OUR ESSIAC HERB QUALITY PAGE
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How We Powder Our Essiac Herbs
We follow Rene Caisse’s specifications exactly for powdering our SPECIAL BLEND ESSIAC TEA HERBS. Although Rene Caisse kept her Essiac formula and recipe secret, she taught her best friend, Mary McPherson, what the formula was and how to make it when Rene was unable to make it herself. Mary had to swear never to reveal the Essiac formula.
However, she eventually did reveal both the formula and recipe in 1994 after Dr. Gary Glum bought the formula from one of Rene’s former cancer patients. You can see a certified copy of Mary McPherson’s sworn affidavit here.
Here is what Mary McPherson stated in a video interview regarding Rene Caisse’s Essiac tea formula and recipe:
“It was advertised by Dr. Gary Glum, who wrote the book, “Calling of an Angel”, and he made this recipe public. Before that it was a secret. And it was a pretty well kept secret for a good many years. But once the book came out, why, it went all over.
“Then various people decided that it might be better if we changed this or that or the other, you know, how everybody thinks they know better. And that’s how I think it has gotten so many different versions at the present time.
Question: “And do you think Rene knew that this would happen?
Mary: “Oh, of course she did. She told me many times that she would have printed this in the newspaper, only that nobody would follow it. Everybody would change it.
“First thing she said they would do was make it shorter because it takes too long to make it. So she didn’t want any short cuts done at all. She had a reason for everything she did in this recipe.”
![Mary McPherson interview wherein she stated " She had a reason for everything she did in this [Essiac] recipe](https://essiac-tea.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/14.-Mary-McPherson-October-1996-200x300.jpg "Mary McPherson, October 1996")
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Rene specified in the documented Essiac tea formula and recipe that three of the four Essiac tea herbs must be powdered: Sheep Sorrel leaf and root, Slippery Elm inner bark and Turkey Rhubarb root. Rene Caisse powdered these three herbs with a Vita-Mix kitchen appliance. The picture on the left shows Rene Caisse using a Vita-Mix 3600 series (1970s version) to powder her Essiac herbs.
We also use a Vita-Mix when we are powdering small amounts of Essiac herbs, but it is a more modern model and we use the special Vita-Mix container for powdering grains and herbs. Click here to learn more about the history of Vita-Mix and the various models.
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However, we usually powder large quantities of Essiac herbs in our hammermill that powders the herbs to the same degree of fineness that Rene made with her Vita-Mix.
According to Dr. Glum the herbs need be powdered so that the cell walls are broken apart but care must be taken so as not to heat up the herbs too much. When using a Vita-Mix one can only powder the herbs for 15 seconds before the rapidly spinning blades of a Vita-Mix heat the herbs too much and this may actually burn the herbs.
With our hammermill we use a screen with large holes so that the herbs do not heat up at all. We must run the herbs through the hammermill two times in order to achieve the correct degree of fineness where the cells walls are broken apart.
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HOW WE PACKAGE OUR ESSIAC HERBS FOR LONG-TERM STORAGE
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Herbs will lose their medicinal and nutritional properties through time if not stored properly. Moisture, heat, light, and oxygen are factors that will degrade the quality of herbs. Therefore, we use heavy-duty mylar foil bags and oxygen absorbers to maintain the high quality of our herbs for long-term storage.
Mylar bags are very useful for herb storage because they are double-sealed with a convenient zipper and are also heat-sealed. Plus, they are strong and flexible so that most of the oxygen can initially be squeezed out before sealing.
Before sealing we add oxygen absorbers which sequester any remaining oxygen and moisture in the air-tight mylar foil bags. Oxygen absorbers contain iron. Iron rusts when it comes into contact with water and oxygen, which causes a chemical reaction known as oxidation. Therefore, any residual moisture after drying the herbs, such as environmental humidity, is used up to rust the iron in the sealed mylar bags. Since oxygen is also required to oxidize the iron, it is also used up. The result is a bag that appears to be vacuum-packed and contains no oxygen or moisture, thus preserving the herbs for long-term storage.
We then store our bagged herbs in metal containers in rooms that are cool and dark to avoid degradation with heat and light. We run air conditioners to keep the herbs cool when outside temperatures rise in spring and summer.
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Food can be stored for years this way so anyone can apply this method to their own long-term food storage plans. Buying food in bulk, packaging and storing it in this way can save money during inflationary periods (such as the one we are currently in) when food prices are continually rising.
Bulk foods are generally less expensive than buying many small packages in grocery stores. An additional benefit is one can apply some of the savings to buying higher-priced organic bulk food which does not contain herbicides and pesticides or additives that can cause cancer and other degenerative diseases. This, in turn, can decrease health care expenses. It’s a win-win remedy for greater health and wealth.
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ESSIAC CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
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* BUYER BEWARE! Most Essiac companies and herb suppliers are now obtaining Sheep Sorrel leaf from Bulgaria and Croatia and it is dead plant material and not even green! Therefore, most of the Essiac sold in the US now has little medicinal value for cancer patients. We are concerned that this may eventually give quality Essiac Tea an undeserved reputation for being ineffective against cancer. This may also give false hope for cancer patients.
This is why we place so much attention on how we grow our certified organic herbs and the extra effort and care we place on quality, even though our Essiac Tea Herbs cost significantly more than other Essiac tea providers. As the old adage goes: “You get what you pay for.” *
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The information on this website is for educational and historical purposes and not to be construed as medical advice. Everyone’s body is different so there is no one-size-fits-all for health issues. It should be noted that medical doctors are not usually taught about such subjects as herbal medicine, nutritional supplements, non-pharmceutical approaches to health, etc. Therefore, choosing an appropriate health professional is a human right and that is up to the individual seeking health improvement.
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