A fascinating and provocative investigation into the global business of herbal products—asking whether it delivers on its healing promise to consumers, suppliers, and the environment.
“For those who loved Braiding Sweetgrass, this book is a perfect opportunity to go deeper into understanding the complex and co-evolutionary journey of plants and people in creating the herbal products we love.”
—Angela McElwee, president and CEO of Gaia Herbs
“In The Business of Botanicals, Ann Armbrecht brings readers along on a wholly engaging exploration of her questions and hard learnings about whether the healing power of plants can truly make it into the factory-sealed supplement bottles on our grocery shelves. It’s a valuable read and a good read, a rare find in this age of information.”
—Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet
Praise for The Business of Botanicals
“So deeply honest, sincere, heartful, questioning, and brilliant. . . . [The Business of Botanicals] is an amazing book, that plunges in, and takes a deepening look at those places where people don’t often venture.”
—Rosemary Gladstar, author of Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs
“A unique and valuable resource on the exceptional challenges to creating ethical, ecological, and fair herbal products, written from the perspective of a thoughtful expert.”
—Ryan Zinn, Regenerative Projects Manager, Dr. Bronner’s
“Ann Armbrecht is a bright light in the complex business of botanical medicines. She is a pragmatic insider, not an armchair critic, but she also brings a strong sense of ethical wisdom . . . and does not dodge the hard questions.”
—Gary Paul Nabhan, author of Mesquite and Jesus for Farmers and Fishers
“Brilliant. . . . Like herbs themselves, The Business of Botanicals is rich in colors, scents, and flavors and is rooted in the earth—exquisite and messy, beautiful and dirty all at the same time.
In the true spirit of inquiry, her journey comes back to the heart, the organ of true perception. If the herbalism we practice is holistic because it considers the whole picture of a patient before formulating a prescription, and the whole plant we use is clearly more than the sum of its constituent parts, so too this book offers a truly holistic perspective. As Armbrecht says, her journey became the medicine these plants offer. . . . That is their promise.”
—Anne McIntyre, MAPA, MCPP, fellow of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists
Medicine as a Process, Not a Product
What do you picture when you think of medicine? Pharmacy shelves filled with plastic bottles promising cures to your every ailment? A doctor’s office? Whatever you think of, you probably don’t picture fields of medicinal herbs or bookshelves covered in jars of amber-colored liquid or trained hands drying leaves and cutting roots. What if, at its core, medicine is not about the product, but about the process.
The following excerpt is from The Business of Botanicals by Ann Armbrecht. It has been adapted for the web and reprinted with permission from Chelsea Green Publishing.
I first recognized medicine as a process rather than a product at a tincture-making workshop in the mid-1990s. The young teacher showed us a twisted echinacea root she had dug from her garden the previous day. “It’s easy to wash the roots,” she said. “Just use a strong hose.” She demonstrated how to break the root into smaller pieces to remove dirt from the crevices. “Cut up the root as small as possible,” she added as she chopped it into tiny pieces. She explained that the greater the surface area that comes into contact with the menstruum— the solvent used to extract compounds or constituents from the plant material—the more constituents would be extracted. She dumped the root bits into a mason jar, covered the roots with vodka, put a lid on the jar, and shook. Let it sit in a dark place for six weeks, she said, then strain off the liquid, which is the medicine. The leftover bits of root, called the marc, can be composted.
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