A Happy Discovery

[chandra]

I normally do two washes on my kava and then freeze it. When I accumulate a cup or more, I'll take it out and boil it. Normally, this isn't too potent, but enough that it's worth doing. This time I took coconut milk (the kind in the can with a lot of fat) and mixed some in the water that I boiled my kava in. I strained it and put in the refrigerator. When I pulled it out today, there were tan chunks that resembled solid coconut oil. These chunks are full of kl's. A small slliver numbed my mouth. Now I'm happily riding the kava wave, and this will now be my go to method for making kava

 

[Noah]

Just to clarify - you wait until you have a cup of leftover root, and then you boil in a coconut milk/water mixture, then strain and refrigerate and the kl's reside in the solidified coconut fat? This sounds awesome btw just making sure I have your method down.

 

[PepperyPyrone]

That sounds like a great way to make kava coconut oil extract, and coconut oil is so good for you! Put that in some capsules and you can always have a stash when needed. One question though, and I guess that its working for you or you wouldn't be feeling the effects, but . . . I was under the understanding that kavalactones denature above 140 degrees F. I am wondering if your coconut oil KLs would be more potent if you did something like the optimal kavalactone extraction temperature of 120 degrees F. ?

 

[chandra]

Some people find that boiling kava actually gives it more effects. I think that boiling may effect a certain amount of kl's, but it seems to draw out more as well. I'm going to try making some using this method with fresh kava and see how the effects are. Before boiling, I did a traditional prep with coconut milk added, and didn't notice an increase in potency.

 

[Edward]

I've tried adding coconut oil directly to kava and it just leaves an oily film and does nothing for the kava (in terms of potentation). If that info helps. I would say definitely something in the heating of the kava that mixes it with the liquid oil so that when it cools again and solidifies the solid bits are full of kl's.