How to Use Our Products

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

Adopting our range of products—including tinctures, powders, capsules, and tablets—can seamlessly integrate into your daily routine with commitment and regular use.

Our products are offered in various forms to achieve specific goals:

• Personalization: We cater to individual preferences, whether you favor capsules over powders or prefer the convenience of tinctures.
• Maximizing Benefits: Our tinctures are specifically formulated to leverage the phyto-androgens in Pine Pollen, optimizing the unique properties of the herbs.
• Preserving Nutritional Integrity: Whether in powder, capsule, or tablet form, we ensure the nutritional integrity of our RAW pollens, including RAW Pine Pollen™.
• Ease of Use: For those who find some herbs bitter or unpalatable, capsules provide a fantastic alternative to easily incorporate these beneficial formulas into your regimen.

In short, our diverse product forms are not merely about variety; they are thoughtfully designed to enhance usability and maximize the health benefits for you.

General Advice for Using Our Products

Make It Enjoyable

Above all, ensure that using our therapeutic herbs, functional mushrooms, raw pollens, and other products is enjoyable and even celebratory. Taking care of your health should be a pleasure, not a burden. By finding joy in self-care, you enhance your well-being significantly—joy is one of the most potent medicines available.

Optimize Absorption

For optimal results, we recommend taking all our products on an empty stomach. To maximize digestion and absorption, try to avoid eating for at least two hours before and wait at least 30 minutes after taking our products before consuming any food. This practice can significantly enhance the effectiveness of the ingredients.

By following these guidelines, you not only make health routines more enjoyable but also more effective, increasing the likelihood of consistent use and lasting benefits.

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. Importantly, tinctures provide a convenient and effective way to incorporate therapeutic herbs into your daily routine.

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

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

How Much is One Dropperful?

This is a common question we receive at RAW Forest Foods. Droppers vary in size based on the size of the bottle. For example, the dropper in a 2-ounce bottle of tincture will be a different size than the dropper in a 4-ounce bottle.

The dropper consists of two parts:

1. The rubber bulb
2. The glass pipette

When measuring the tincture, the rubber bulb is responsible for the measurement, not the glass pipette. Although it's not 100 percent precise, one full squeeze of the rubber dropper, when the pipette is fully submerged, will draw approximately 1 mL of liquid—equivalent to 30 drops—into the pipette. The glass part of the dropper, the pipette, may not appear 'full.' This is because the measurement is controlled by the rubber bulb, which consistently pulls in a specific amount of tincture, regardless of the pipette’s size.

Taking the Tincture

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 Functional Mushroom MycoMedic Elixir Tincture—with its Spiced Winter Chai essential oil blend—pairs particularly well with coffee.

Using and Enjoying Our Extract Powders

What are Extract Powders?

Extract powders are concentrated forms of herbs or mushrooms, created through a process of extraction, spray-drying, and milling into a fine powder. Active ingredients are first reduced and concentrated using heat and a solvent, typically water or alcohol. The resulting liquid is precipitated out, spray-dried, and then processed into a uniform powder.

Advantages of Extract Powders Extract powders are highly potent, with some like our Ultra-Pure unstandardized extracts having a 50:1 concentration. They boast an extended shelf life, high digestibility, and are ready to use—a significant advantage for indigestible functional mushrooms such as Reishi and Chaga. Additionally, because tincturing and encapsulation can be costly, our extract powders offer a more economical option, passing savings on to you.

How to Use Extract Powders

To use, simply mix the powder with warm-to-hot liquid, stir until dissolved, and enjoy. We recommend adding half a mug of hot water, the desired amount of extract powder, and stirring until fully dissolved.

Flavor and Pairing Most extract powders have an earthy taste that many find quickly becomes enjoyable. Our TapRoot Deep Jing formula, for example, is noted for its exceptionally good taste. For those with an earthy, slightly bitter flavor, such as our Reishi Mushrooms Buddha Blend, consider pairing with coffee or coffee alternatives. To create an herbal latte, add the extract powder to a brewed strong mug of your choice (like Dandy Blend®), stir until dissolved, and finish with steamed milk or a milk alternative for a creamy texture. If the taste is too strong, sweeteners can help balance the earthy and bitter flavors.

Note on Bitter Extract Powders

Certain powders, such as Elephant Mountain Ginseng Formula and Tahna Prana Elevated Tongkat Ali Extract Powder, have a noticeable bitter taste. While these are popular, adding a sweetener may enhance palatability for those who prefer less bitterness.

Using and Enjoying Our RAW Pollen Powders, Including Our Signature RAW Pine Pollen™

Incorporating RAW pollen powders into your daily routine is simple and delightful. These powders are easy to mix with water, allowing you to savor their unique flavors throughout the day. Just add them to a water bottle, shake, and enjoy. Our signature RAW Pine Pollen™ delivers a robust pine flavor, while our RAW Flower Pollens offer sweeter, floral notes.

Simple Method, Great Taste

At RAW Forest Foods, we keep it simple: add the powders to your water bottle and integrate them into your regular hydration routine.

Optimize Your Workout with RAW Pollens

• Pre-Workout: RAW Pine Pollen™ is excellent before or even during your workout to boost energy and endurance.
• Post-Workout Recovery: RAW Camellia Flower Pollen is perfect for recovery, helping to rejuvenate and restore your body.

Handling Clumps

Some RAW Flower Pollens, such as Brassica, Camellia, and Sacred Lotus, may tend to clump. This is easily managed by blending them in a blender or shaking them in a blender bottle.

Convenient Alternatives

For those who prefer convenience, our signature RAW Pine Pollen™ is also available in capsule and tablet forms, providing the same benefits in a form that’s easy to take on the go.

Using and Enjoying Our Capsules and Tablets

While tinctures, raw pollen powders, and extract powders are excellent ways to incorporate herbal benefits into your life, capsules and tablets often offer a preferable alternative for many.

Ease of Use

The process of using capsules and tablets is comfortably familiar to most. This familiarity simplifies the integration of therapeutic herbs and functional mushrooms into your daily routine—there’s no learning curve involved.

Convenient and Effective

Capsules and tablets are exceptionally convenient, making it easier to consistently benefit from phyto-therapeutics. Simply follow the directions on the product label: count the necessary number of capsules or tablets and take them with a glass of water.

Special Considerations for RAW Pine Pollen™ Tablets

Our RAW Pine Pollen™ Tablets add a unique twist—they are chewable! You can take them whole like a traditional tablet or enjoy them as a superfood candy, perfect for on-the-go nourishment. Keep a stash in your car or desk drawer for an easy wellness boost anytime. As with all our products, make sure to follow the suggested dosage and consume with water.