How to Use Our Products

Incorporating Our Products into Your Daily Routine Can Be Simple and Enjoyable

Through commitment and regularity, adopting our products—encompassing tinctures, powders, capsules, and tablets—can be a seamless process, effortlessly becoming a fundamental part of your daily routine.

Many of our products are available in various forms, with the goals of:

• Catering to everyone's particular needs. Some people like capsules more than powders or tinctures more than capsules;
• Maximizing specific properties of certain herbs. For example, tinctures are best at leveraging the phyto-androgens naturally present in Pine Pollen;
• Preserving the nutritional integrity of our RAW pollens—including RAW Pine Pollen™, whether in powder, capsule, or tablet form;
• Facilitating ease of use. Some herbs are bitter, and some people don't like them. Using capsules is a fantastic option when some herbs and specific formulas taste unpalatable.

In short, we offer our products in multiple forms, not with the sole intention of selling them but with the broader aim of facilitating their use and maximizing their benefits for you.

General Advice for Using Our Products

Above all else: make sure it's enjoyable.

No matter how you use therapeutic herbs, functional mushrooms, raw pollens, or other products, make sure it's enjoyable and even a little celebratory. Taking care of yourself and improving your health should not be a burden, especially when using our products.

By taking pleasure in taking care of ourselves, we not only add more joy to our lives (one of the most powerful medicines known), but we also increase the likelihood of maintaining the activity.

For best results, take all our products on an empty stomach. Ideally, do not consume any food for at least two hours prior and wait at least 30 minutes before consuming anything else. Following this recommendation will significantly improve digestion and absorption of the ingredients.

Using and Enjoying Our Tinctures

Tinctures are liquid extracts of an herb or a combination of herbs, typically prepared by steeping the herbs in alcohol or another solvent. The alcohol-based tinctures we offer at RAW Forest Foods exhibit high bioavailability, act swiftly, and have a lengthy shelf life. Perhaps most importantly, tinctures provide a convenient and effective way of incorporating therapeutic herbs into your daily routine.

Multiple ways exist to use tinctures, with the optimal approach being the one that suits you best. In practice, the two standard methods for consuming tinctures are:

• Adding tincture into water (or another fluid) and drinking it;
• Dispensing the tincture directly into the mouth and either swallowing immediately or letting it rest under the tongue for sublingual absorption ( read more about taking tinctures sublingually here ).

To take a tincture, fill a glass with a few ounces of water, use the dropper to gauge and distribute the desired quantity, and drink. This straightforward process becomes increasingly effortless with repetition. You may also add the tincture to more water or another beverage. Our Twelve Rivers MycoMedic Mushroom Elixir Tincture pairs particularly well with coffee.

The taste of alcohol in tinctures can be mitigated by placing the measured amount of tincture in an empty, heat-proof glass and pouring a few ounces of boiling water into the glass. The heat will aid in dissipating the alcohol, thus reducing its flavor.

Alternatively, many prefer to squirt the tincture from the dropper directly into their mouth, which can then be chased with a sip of water, swallowed as is, or held under the tongue (sublingually) for several minutes. Whether the tincture is held sublingually or swallowed, the alcohol suspension of the tincture allows it to directly enter the bloodstream through the capillaries in the mouth or the epithelial lining of the upper digestive tract.

Ultimately, the best method for using tinctures is whichever works best for you and your specific needs at any moment.

Using and Enjoying Our Extract Powders

An extract powder is a concentrated form of an herb or mushroom that has been extracted, spray-dried, and processed into a fine powder. To make extract powders, the active ingredients are first reduced and concentrated using heat and a solvent (typically water or alcohol). The liquid is then precipitated out, spray-dried, and finally tumbled or crushed into a fine, uniform powder.

Many of the products we offer are available as extract powders, including single herbs and formulas, functional mushrooms, and our Mountain Harvest Pine Pollen™.

Extract powders offer several advantages, including their potency. For example, our Ultra-Pure unstandardized extracts have a 50:1 concentration. They also have an extended shelf life, high digestibility, and ready-to-use convenience, which is particularly important for functional mushrooms like Reishi and Chaga that are indigestible in their unextracted form.

Extract powders also offer value, as tincturing and encapsulation is expensive. By offering our products as extract powders, we pass the savings on to you.

To use extract powders, simply mix them with warm-to-hot liquid, stir until dissolved, and drink. Our preferred method is to add half a mug of hot water, the desired extract powder, and stir until fully dissolved before consuming.

Most extract powders have an earthy taste, but it is not unpleasant and most people quickly get used to it and even enjoy the flavor. Some extract powders, like our TapRoot Deep Jing formula, have an exceptionally good taste.

Extract powders with an earthy, slightly bitter flavor that pair well with coffee and coffee alternatives. To create an herbal latte, start by brewing a strong mug of your preferred drink (we recommend Dandy Blend®), then add the desired extract powder and stir until fully dissolved. Finish by adding steamed milk or a milk alternative for a creamy texture and flavor. If you find the extract powder to be too strong, you can balance its earthy and slightly bitter taste with sweeteners.

Some of our extract powders, such as the Elephant Mountain Ginseng Formula, Elevated Tongkat Ali Extract Powder, Himalayan Shilajit Extract Powder, and Reishi Mushrooms Buddha Blend, have a noticeable bitter taste that some people may find unpleasant. Although these products are popular, we believe it is important to note this characteristic. If you prefer a less bitter taste, adding a sweetener may be helpful.

Using and Enjoying Our RAW Pollen Powders, including our Signature RAW Pine Pollen™

Incorporating raw pollen powders into your daily routine is simple—mix them with water and savor the unique taste. Each of our raw pollen powders carries a pleasing flavor profile and are easy to add to a water bottle, shake, and consume throughout your day. Our signature RAW Pine Pollen™ imparts a robust pine taste, while the RAW Flower Pollens offer a sweeter, more floral note.

At RAW Forest Foods, our method is uncomplicated: we add the powders to our water bottles and enjoy them as part of our regular hydration routine.

RAW Pollens for Pre and Post Workout

• RAW Pine Pollen™ is notably beneficial as a pre-workout supplement, taken before or even during your workout;
• For post-workout recovery, RAW Camellia Flower Pollen is a stellar choice.

RAW Flower Pollens such as RAW Brassica Flower Pollen, RAW Camellia Flower Pollen, and RAW Sacred Lotus Flower Pollen have a tendence to clump, but this minor issue can be easily resolved by blending them in a blender or using a blender bottle.

And, for those who seek convenience, our signature RAW Pine Pollen™ is also available in capsule and tablet forms.

Using and Enjoying our Capsules and Tablets

Sometimes, tinctures, raw pollen powders, and extract powders may not work for you. This is where capsules come in handy.

The process of using and taking capsules and tablets is comfortably familiar to most people and requires little to no additional explanation. This familiarity makes incorporating therapeutic herbs and functional mushrooms remarkably easy, with no learning curve involved.

Capsules and tablets offer a key advantage over other forms of products we offer: convenience.

Capsules and tablets provide an easy way to incorporate phyto-therapeutics into your daily routine. This convenience increases the likelihood of benefiting from our products. To use them, simply follow the instructions on the product label, count out the necessary number of capsules, and take them with a glass of water. This process is likely familiar to you.

However, our RAW Pine Pollen™ Tablets are a bit different. They are chewable and can be taken whole like a regular tablet or capsule. These tablets can also be enjoyed as a superfood candy, making them a great option for keeping in the car or a desk drawer. As with all of our capsules, determine the appropriate number to take and consume them with water.