The tree witch hazel, produces 40 phyto chemicals that perform 228 activities. But which part of the tree - leaf or bark is the workhorse ?

Surprisingly 35 of those chemicals are found in the leaf, with only 5 attributed to the bark ? It is important to understand that HAMAMELITANNIN a key active phyto chemical is found in both the leaves and bark (never pulpwood) and available on the market as a stand alone chemical concentrate. In fact, every key chemical in witch hazel can be found as a stand alone ingredient. So, why is commercial witch hazel made primarily from the dormant trees ?

The government became involved. In the 1970's the FDA provided witch hazel with the legal status of a drug, when production followed the pharmacopoeia formula. The formula states witch hazel is to be 85% bark - not pulp wood, with 14 alcohol added for preservative. A few decades later, the agency legally defined each part of the plant, while the industry remained the same, chipping and extracting from whole trees, not separating out the bark from the pulpwood. 

The legally accepted species for witch hazel production across the globe is Hamamelis Virginiana and native to the United States alone. Small plantations have been established in Europe, however their production is minuscule by comparison to the single industrial distiller of witch hazel.

That company has the capacity to produce 250,000 gallons per 8 hour run time. That is rather mind boggling. How many pounds of witch hazel "bark" would be required to product 250,000 gallons of witch hazel in a single run ?

An astounding 1,700,000 of raw material to produce a single run of commercial witch hazel. Weight of 1 gallon 8 lbs, x 250,000 = 2,000,000 pounds Legal ratio 85% by volume

Required Biomass per run to produce witch hazel usp 1,700,000 pounds of raw material. Something is not right.

I have no answer as to exactly what happens in the course of industrial witch hazel production, and where the phyto chemicals are coming from. Over the course of the last 7 years, working with witch hazel, I experimented with a various formulas for producing witch hazel. It became readily apparent that leaf produced witch hazel had the most effective compounds for my purposes.

This year, I will produce around 250 gallons of witch hazel - using about 1 ton of leaf. My formula for witch hazel hydrosol (note to make witch hazel INCI one must add 14% alcohol as cosmetics are to required to have a 3 year shelf life) is 1 pound of fresh leaf per pint, or 8 lbs of fresh leaf per gallon. The product I produce is fresh, and leaves have not be off the branches for more than a few hours when I begin my production. It is a wonderful to produce an authentic extract from this lovely tree.

If an individual or small company is working with witch hazel, I would recommend using the date base here and reviewing both the activities and the phyto chemicals in witch hazel to insure your raw material is produced from the proper part of the plant   Ith the product is intended to treat a medical condition, it must be witch hazel usp, if the product is used to beautify the body, and you are not making medical claims, witch hazel has the most activity  when made from the leaves of the plant. To purchase pure witch hazel made from 100% leaf witch hazel hydrosol, one can visit wildcrops.com or organicwitchhazel.com

We only produce a little of each product, then move on like the seasons - naturally to the next wild harvest. Each plant has a season and a reason for being on this earth.    

  RESPECTING the natural laws of life, our forests, our young people, our clients and ourselves.