The purity and potency of herbs vary depending on many factors, so buying herbs or herbal products from any old source can be a waste of money. A poor quality herb or preparation may be the reason it did not work for you in the past for the condition recommended.

Factors governing purity of any herb begin at the time of harvest, and much can go wrong.

Miss-identification of an herb can take place while being picked, especially if it is selected by inexperienced hands. This is most common in the wild, where people gather herbs for personal use or to earn money; it is usually not a problem on an herb farm.

If a wild herb is miss-identified by a novice picker, it may be corrected by an experienced buyer through inspection. This isn’t a problem with most herbs, because they have distinct, physical characteristics, but a few plants do resemble each other.

Purity can be somewhat affected at harvest and handling from cross-contamination by airborne pollen, seeds and the outright mixing of close growing plants by accident. Wild harvesting requires careful selection under the eye of an experienced individual.

Cleaning, transporting, storage and processing are also critical elements with regard to the purity of an herb as well. Protecting the source substance is paramount.

Potency is affected by soil conditions, weather and the stage a plant is at the time of harvest.

After picking, potency begins a slow decline and must be guarded by handling and processing appropriately. The quicker an herb is used or processed, the more potent it is. Most dried herbs will be fine in proper storage for about a year, but there are some with much shorter shelf life.

An example would be Passion Flower, with a recommendation of storage in a cool environment, and trashed after six months. Sometimes this shorter shelf life recommendation is due to the herb having a tendency to spoil, like a food does.

Although the above is a brief synopsis of purity and potency, it is offered to give the reader a fuller understanding of what to consider when purchasing a product. Better protecting yourself and your money when buying herbs or herbal products may be as easy as putting your trust only in those companies that you have researched a bit.

Research the herb you are considering first, and then try to locate a source which appears to be passionate about their trade. Time in business, is not always the best barometer either…a newbie company may be more passionate, considerate, honest and attentive to the craft than some oldsters out there…Let your head, and your heart guide you in your quest.

A good guide for selecting a company to deal with is to examine their web-site. If it seems like they are more interested in selling their product without offering much information to educate you then, keep searching.

Be watchful of hype and grandstanding. If their selling style reminds you of a used car salesman, or late night infomercial, steer clear of dealing with them.

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@AverageOutsider