Kashayam

Medicinal plants are the richest bioresources of drugs used in the treatment of various ailments in traditional medicines over centuries. Different methods were evolved in transforming the crude drugs into an ingestible dosageform in which extraction is unique.

Extraction is the method in which the separation of medicinally active principles of plant materials using solvents (eg. water) by adopting standard procedures. This extraction techniques helps to isolate the soluble plant metabolites and the insoluble cellular marc are discarded as solid wastes. The product obtained ‘decoction / kashayam’ is a relatively complex mixtures of metabolites.  

The crude drugs are coarsely powdered and boiled in a specified volume of water, usually 1:8 or 1:16 for a defined period of time and the volume is reduced as prescribed in the texts. The concentrated extract is then allowed to cool and strained, packed in suitable containers and labelled.