How do we get the kavalactones out without FKB and other stuff?

[LocalBliss]

Hi everyone, I am so thankful for this forum, I have learned so much since coming on board. Besides sharing humorous experiences, pictures, delicious recipes and different strains, it is clear that trying to maximize the extraction of kavalactones is always the goal. All the different methods of extraction have been well discussed... however there is that fear of the FKB and other not so desired stuff that "kavadude" brought up a few days ago and I want to pursue it.

Some say there are 6 Kavalactones, some say 8 but a pharmaceutical company in Germany said there are 10. Whatever the number is, the question remains.. How do we get the kavalactones out without FKB and other stuff?

 

[kavadude]

There are 6 major kavalactones that make up most of the kavalactones by weight in the plant and are believed to be mostly responsible for the effects of kava, and a number of minor ones that I can't remember the exact number of, for near 100 distinct ones. (I think that's right, off the top of my head).

Basically water extraction is the tried and true method. A couple vendors swear by CO2 extraction. I haven't seen any scientific studies but I do believe Adil at @Paradise Kava has consulted with some scientific minds on the issue and decided it was a good way to extract kava. There are other methods that us mere mortals don't have access to (the fractionation used in that cancer study). What I was lamenting in that post is there's really no efficient extraction you can do in the kitchen.

The main concern is that simply putting kava in a pill or doing a nonpolar solvent extract (alcohol) pulls pretty much all of the FKB.

 

[Bula Kava House]

If it ain't broke... Water extraction is the tried and true method. Basically, just make kava the way people have been doing it forever. All kava will have some stuff that you don't want but a water extraction will not concentrate what is pulled out. In opposition, solvent extracts are believed to concentrate all compounds. If you want a sort of concentrated extract, Co2 is the way to go.

 

[HeadHodge]

Myself, I'm big on experimenting new ways to get the max Kavatones from the root. But I've read and also believe from personal use, that various extraction methods (i.e. Instants, Extracts, pills, etc....) aren't really able to give you the same experience (results) that traditional extraction gives you.

I'll continue my search but definitely use the "traditional" preparation of Kava as your basis for comparison. AND if you find something wonderful in your endeavour, let us know please!!!

 

[HeadHodge]

I thought about it some more, and I guess what I'm trying to say in my previous post, is that although you may be worried about what bad things maybe extracted from Kava, I'm more worried about what's not. (Hope that makes sense).