Sweet Woodruff Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a low, carpeting perennial of the coffee family, Rubiaceae, native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia and grown as a shade groundcover in North American gardens, where it is also naturalized. It forms mats 15 to 30 cm tall of square stems ringed with whorls of six to nine narrow, bright green leaves, topped in late spring by loose clusters of small white, four-petaled, star-shaped flowers. The plant is almost scentless when fresh but on drying develops the sweet hay-and-vanilla scent of coumarin, which flavors German May wine. We extract the dried herb.