http://www.snowcrest.net/soza/health/myessiac.htm
Preparation of the herbal tea:
Measure out the desired amount of the dry mixture.
For each eight ounces of dry herbal mixture, use 2 gallons of distilled water, in a stainless steel kettle. For four ounces, use 1 gallon of distilled water. For two ounces, use 2 quarts of distilled water. [If using half my 8-ounce package, STIR WELL, because I measure directly into each ZipLoc bag.]
Boil the distilled water. It takes about 30 minutes for 2 gallons.
Put the dry herbal mixture into the boiling water.
Stir it and boil hard for about 10 minutes, with the lid on.
Cover and allow it to sit and cool slowly for six hours.
After six hours, stir it thoroughly with a wooden or stainless steel tool.
Let it sit for another six hours.
Return the kettle to the stove and bring it to a boil.
When the boiling point is reached, turn off the heat and pour the tea thru a stainless steel strainer into a second stainless steel kettle.
Clean the first kettle thoroughly.
Strain the contents a second time from pot 2 to pot 1.
Bottle the resulting herbal tea immediately into dark amber bottles and seal it while still hot. I used clear glass canning jars successfully.
Cool them, and store in the refrigerator, until needed. I found that if not used quickly enough, the tea lost its strength, so I recommend using pint jars, instead of quarts.
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Directions for use:
Heat 2 ounces or 4 tablespoons of distilled water, and then mix it with 2 ounces or 4 tablespoons of the tea taken directly from the refrigerator.
Pour the tea into the measuring device, instead of sticking the spoon into the jar. This habit will protect against contamination.
Keep the tea refrigerated at all times. Shake well each time before pouring.
Take it on an empty stomach, at least 2 hours after eating. Wait 2 more hours before eating after taking the tea.
Good times to take it are at bedtime, or upon awakening. More seriously ill persons can take it safely 3 to 4 times daily, spaced out, as described above, separated from meals, by two hours. It is not going to do you much good to take it with meals. It will not work all mixed up with your dinner. That would just be a waste of money.
http://www.tldp.com/issue/183/Cats%20Claw%20and%20Essiac.htm
Unfortunately, Caisse sold the rights to the name Essiac to a company in Canada which no longer prepares the individual herbs as she did and there are many knockoff products under different names, that do not prepare the herbs as she did either. In order for the herbs to be most effective, sheep sorrel must never be boiled or its medicinal properties will be destroyed. It must be simmered for 20 minutes at no higher that 140¡. Burdock root and turkey rhubarb root must be boiled for 20 minutes and slippery elm bark needs to be boiled for 20 minutes, allowed to cool and then boiled again for another 20 minutes. This is a tedious procedure that must be followed religiously if one expects to see the kind of results experienced by nurse Caisse's patients.
A few years before her death, Caisse came to the United States and worked with Dr. Charles Brusch, the former personal physician to John F. Kennedy. Together they modified the original formula by adding a specific amount of watercress. This was done because the original formula contains a high level of oxalic acids which can contribute to forming kidney stones. Brusch and Caisse determined that the correct amount of watercress would help the kidneys flush the acids out of the system. Later this new five herb formula was given to Dr. Bill Maclean who began preparing all the herbs individually in order to maximize their effectiveness.
Recently, Dr. Maclean began adding Cat's Claw to the formula and it is now being offered commercially under a number of different names. Though it is too soon to know how effective this new product will be, preliminary reports suggest that it may be helpful with cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's disease and even AIDS. It is certainly a product worthy of further investigation by the wholistic health community.
I suspect that over the next five years the potential of this product will become realized as more doctors and individuals begin using it. For now I am content in knowing that this product exists and is readily available to anyone who needs it.
Why Commercial Essiac and Most Essiac Knock-Off Products Are Only Partially Effective
(Author's addendum to the above article as follows):
The original Essiac Formula given to Rene Caisse can be traced back to the native Ojibway Indians of Canada. It is a formula that she later simplified utilizing four herbs: Burdock root, Slippery Elm bark, Turkey Rhubarb root and Sheep Sorrel. Of these four, the first three are referred to as hard tissue herbs (roots and/or barks) while the fourth is a soft tissue herb (leaves and/or flowers). Hard tissue herbs must be boiled in order to release all of their medicinal properties, while soft tissue herbs must be simmered at a temperature not exceeding 140 degrees.
The majority of these products available commercially today have all the herbs mixed together with instructions to either boil or simmer them and they cannot be prepared separately. If all herbs are boiled, the enzymes and other medicinal properties in the Sheep Sorrel will be destroyed. If all herbs are simmered together, much of the medicinal properties in the Burdock root, Slippery Elm bark and Turkey Rhubarb root will not be released.
This is the reason why many people do not experience the same results that Rene Caisse did, with her 50 plus years of using the formula in Canada.
I know of two commercial products available in the United States that have prepared the herbs according to the directions of Dr. Charles Brusch, the personal physician to John F. Kennedy, who later modified the formula with Rene Caisse, to include a specific amount of watercress. These products are known as Ezzeac Plus and Ezzeac Plus Cat's Claw.
With the advice of Dr. Brusch, Dr. Bill Maclean created Ezzeac Plus and then later Ezzeac Plus Cat's Claw. Both are ready to use preparations, where the hard tissue herbs are boiled separately and the soft tissue herbs, including Watercress, are properly simmered. This is a labor intensive, more tedious procedure, resulting in a more expensive commercial product, at a higher cost to the consumer; however, when faced with a problem that this product might address, which product would you choose?
There is no doubt in my mind. I would choose the product where all the herbs have been prepared in the proper manner: Ezzeac Plus or Ezzeac Plus Cat's Claw.
