Okay guys, motivated from others here in the forums, most specifically
@Krunkie McKrunkface , I started to put my leftover kava makas (after two traditional washes) into freezer bags and stored them in the freezer for later preparation. Now already a pile of kava has accumulated in the freezer, so the time has come to make a kava drink out of it.
Any hints how to proceed? I don't have a blender, so only traditional preparation (kneading) is possible. Should I let it thaw in warm water and then start to knead? And how can I determine the amount of water needed? Anything else I should be careful about?
Thanks for your input!
the specific water ratio will depend on how much thawed kava you have. Obviously, the lower the water ratio the stronger it will be .OR. the more shells you can make. If you start doing this you will doubtless come up with your own methods that work best for you, but in the meantime, here's what I do twice a week.
1. take makas out of freezer and allow to thaw overnight in fridge or on counter for a few hours during the day.
2. Measure the thawed makas by volume. Typically you want to start with 3 cups of thawed makas (which would have been mnade from 2 cups of dried medium grind)
3. Put a large (ish) strainer bag in a big bowl, then pour the makas into the bag. Then tie the string at the top of the bag to seal it so makas don't leak out.
4. Fill a 1/2 gallon jar with hot tap water, hottest you can get. Pour that water into the bowl to cover the bag of makas. It's ok if one or two lumps of ice cube sized makas are still frozen, they will thaw in this part of the operation. Moooosh the bag about so the hot water can access as much of the surface area ofg the makas as possible. Soak that big bag in the hot water for 10 minutes, by which time the water will no longer be hot and may even be quite cool, which is all to the good.
5. Knead that sucker. I find the process of thawing and a how water soak does half your kneading for you and it should only take about 5 minutes, instead of the usual 10 min kneading requires. You can knead longer than 5 min of course but IMO this is not necessary and diminishing marginal return on gains sets in. Squeeze out the liquid and decant. You should get one full half gallon of grog plus one or two extra cups (that's the liquid that was absorbed initially by the medium grind that would never have come out without the freezing/thawing process.
Bulll, ah! (pat pending) Enjoy!
now, for the next wash, do the same but with 1/4 gal water or 1L but knead for the usual 10 minutes. For the next wash it doesn't matter if the water is hot or cold, either is fine, no advantage to be had, use 2.5 cups water and on the one after that, use 1.5. If you join the 2nd (really 4th) wash with the 3rd (5th) and the 4th (6th) washes in a half gallon jar, you should now have a full gallon, plus your cup or two of bonus grog.
Now, if you had very very strong kava in the mix, .OR. if you had more than 3 cups thawed kava, you can go on for onw or two more washes using at least 1 cup water each time. You might get 2 cups on one wash and then go for a final and get 1 more but these will probably not have the same consistent potency as the previous washes yet still might be worthwhile, especially as a pleasant refreshing beverage in the morning.
HTH
