Hi Gypsi, I remember you saying in another post about being a melanoma survivor ~ Congrats and Hugs!
If you go to 'Healing With The Hive' there is a whole thread on prop tincture, and this copy and paste is from there, but you should read it anyway ~ The reason I grind mine down so far is because it only takes a couple of weeks for it to disolve and it's ready to use, you can strain it, but I just leave the sediment in the bottom of the bottle, it's not really in the way.
I get my prop down to say the size of cornmeal, by using a cheap coffee grinder, I'm not sure I can get it finer than that.
I had a hive last year that looked just like the tar image you spoke of, every time I did a hive inspection I would wait until the sun had warmed the hive real good, the prop just scrapes right off like frosting.
You will need:
A hammer
Ziplock baggies - sandwich size or quart size.
Cheap electric coffee grinder from a thrift shop or they are about $10 at Walmart.
A cereal size spoon
This is what you do:
Scrape off all the prop you can, or some people use a prop screen. Put it all in a ziplok bag or several ziploc bags. Freeze it overnight. This is where you have to work in smaller batches and work quickly because the prop starts to get room temp and gets real sticky again.
Have the hammer ready. Take one prop zippy out of the freezer, then promptly wack away at the prop in the zippy until it starts to fracture into smaller pieces, it breaks up like ice. If it starts to stick together put it back into the freezer, for about 1/2 hour. Start on another baggie. Keep doing this until the pieces are about the size of a piece of rice. Freeze it again. Always work with it Frozen!
Then put about 1/4 of a cup of the rice size prop into the coffee grinder, and pulse it often scraping the sides often. You may need to detach the coffee bean canister that's holding the prop and put it back into the freezer for a little while.
Now! Once you've got the prop pulsed down the the size of cornmeal, put it into zippy's and keep it frozen until your ready to use it for a project.
I haven't tried to put this cornmeal size into a cup of coffee or tea, but you got my curiosity up so I'll have to see if it dissolves in my coffee tomorrow.
OKAY GYPSI, HERE IS THE SECOND HALF OF THE RECIPE. It's very important to use high quality vodka or everclear. The higher the alcohol percentage because it will dissolve the propalis much sooner.
To make a 30% solution of propolis tincture, get small bottles like the ones in the photo. Put your propolis that has been ground down to coffee ground size into the bottle. Fill the bottle 1/3 full of coffee ground size propolis. Then fill up the bottle with Everclear alchohol or high quality vodka. Cap the bottle and let steep for one month. Shake the bottle everyday, IMPORTANT.
It is okay to use your tincture in two weeks, it just won't be quite as strong, more like a 25% solution which is still plenty of medicine.
After it's steeping time is done, you will notice some sediment at the bottom of the bottle. That sediment is just wax from the hive. I leave it in, I don't consider it in the way. However, if you don't care for it, just strain the tincture through cheese cloth, or a cotton kitchen towel, not terry cloth.
There ya go Gypsi
you can pm me if you have any questions
PS. it's works better if you apply the tincture just after a shower, or before any odor is detected.
