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A simple 'edible' extract

K

kl.Beepum

Newbie
Hello all, this is my first post here. Yesterday when brewing some kava my friend and I discovered something solely on accident. It's been about a year since I last ordered any Kava, a week ago I was really craving it for some unknown reason. I remember reading that the Kavalactones were not water soluble so it's best to use milk, soy lecithin or something similar when brewing Kava. I usually always use soy milk in my Kava mixes but I was low on it so I started searching my kitchen for a suitable replacement.
 
  I found some "EfaGold Pure Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil by NaturesWay" which has a pretty high fat content. It's a solid but when heated becomes a liquid, which somehow I didn't even think of what I could do at the time. I brew my Kava the way Rex suggests using a nylon, it's the easiest I think. I melted 2 teaspoons of coconut oil and added it to the water and started working the kava over like normal. After 20 minutes I had my muddy water, but I noticed something... The Coconut oil was of course sitting on the top of the water, however you can tell it sucked up those Kavalactones because it was bright yellow. My friend and I drank our glass because we didn't want the coconut oil solidifying, our other friend rejected his Kava because he had already started getting drunk.
 
  We took our friends glass of Kava and stuck it in the refrigerator. After 45minutes we noticed the Coconut oil had solidified fully and was floating on the top of the water. Why didn't we think of that earlier... ? Anyway we scooped up the Kava Coconut oil and tried it. Very bitter, very numbing and melts fast and is absorbed into the system quickly. The concept is basically the same as making Cannabutter.

TL;DR
1.Buy some coconut Oil that is a solid (but turns into a liquid with heat)
2.Make Kava Kava how you normally would but use only Kava, water and coconut oil.
3.Remove/Strain your kava from the water
5.Put your freshly brewed kava into refrigerator and let sit until oil solidifies.
6.Remove your Kava Oil from the top of the water.
7.Enjoy. 
This is a simple method that anyone can do. The end product was better than I expected and a lot easier to take if you have problems drinking Kava.
 
K

kl.Beepum

Newbie
I'm interested if any of you know the 'chemistry' of kava, maybe help make a more potent extract. What I have gathered.
1. Kavalactones are lipid soluble, but are all the kavalactones lipid soluble ?
 - I noticed with this Kava coconut oil extract that the oil contains all the numbing lactones, the kava water left behind has no numbing effect whatsoever.
2. I know the Kavalactones are destroyed by too much heat, whats the degree where the kavalactones are destroyed ? Do you think some heat would help with extraction ?
 - What temperature water do you guys normally brew kava in ?
 - What about a cold (or freezing) water extraction ? Would the cold get any lactones out ?  I know the coconut oil would solidify.
3. I've heard that alcohol extractions are worse on the liver because alcohol doesn't extract something that helps the liver process kava.
 - What if pre-soaking Kava in alcohol then letting the alcohol evaporate, then using a lipid, do you think that would help bring out all the goodies while making it easy on the liver ?

if you guys have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I'm basically trying to experiment on refining this 'oil' and making it as potent as I can.

Edit : just got done making some out of fu'u and borogu , the oil is a beautiful yellow color. I wish I had a camera so I could snap a few pics. The other times I made this oil I also drank the remaining kava water, this time around I am only consuming the oil to see what effects the oil provides solely by itself.
 
K

kl.Gray Owl

Kava Enthusiast
I have some of that very same NaturesWay coconut oil, I'm going to give the coconut oil method a shot with some of the kava that I didn't care for as much, I'll try some other oils as well. For this method it's probably best to leave out the lecithin, or else the oil will just emulsify along with the kavalactones and you'll get basically yucky mayonnaise. I'm going to try keeping the kava warm with a 100 Watt light bulb during the process. I'm hoping to put together a ghetto magnetic stirrer plate of some kind, maybe use a 12 VDC fan under a sheet of plastic or something, not ready to bite the bullet on $100+ for a magnetic stirrer plate may change my mind if this process works well.
 
K

kl.KarmaG

Kava Enthusiast
Beepum, you say that the kava left over had no numbing effect. Did it have any effect at all or do you think that most (if not all) of the kavalactones were pulled into the coconut oil?



This is a very interesting topic. I look forward to your results, Gray Owl.
 
K

kl.KarmaG

Kava Enthusiast
Has anyone else tried this extraction technique? I'm curious if it's worth the effort. I'm also wondering if the remaining kava liquid is still useable or if all the goodies are pulled into the coconut oil. I may give it a whirl after finals when I have a bit more time.
 
kavalover

kavalover

Outsider
Well if anyone does this again, be sure to post pics. Would be helpful to see photos of the method and finished product.... I might try this soon, if so I'll post pics too.
 
K

kl.Gray Owl

Kava Enthusiast
I got it from Amazon, Nature's Way Coconut Oil-extra Virgin 16 fl oz for $8.49 USD, not cheap on a student budget I suppose, but hey, kava isn't cheap either.



http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Organic-Virgin-Coconut/dp/B003B3OOPA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid;=1336477493&sr;=8-1



I want some kind of glass jar with a lid to do this in, but haven't decided on a container yet, so many things come in plastic now instead of glass. Maybe metal would work or glass canning jars, but a dozen canning jars, I don't know, seems like a bit too much commitment unless they're cheap. My idea is to use 100 Watt lightbulb(s) to keep the mixture warm without overheating it (ala Easy Bake Oven) to keep the coconut oil liquid and encourage the kavalactone particles to coalesce. I'm probably going to use some Melo Melo, which I found a bit too bitter it made me gag a bit.
 
K

kl.KarmaG

Kava Enthusiast
I plan on trying this today or tomorrow provided that I can find some coconut oil at my local supermarket. If anyone can provide any information on ratios of kava:water:eek:il I'd be most grateful. Right now what I'm thinking is that if kavalactones constitute up to 20% of kava powder by weight, then I will try to use 20g of oil for every 100g of kava in order to hopefully extract to full potential. If anyone has anything to add or any suggestions for what I should change (chemistry was never my forte) I'd appreciate it. I want to be as efficient with my oil as possible but don't want to leave any goodies behind.
 
K

kl.KarmaG

Kava Enthusiast
Well, I finally had some time to play mad scientist in my kitchen and documented the process as best as I could with my camera phone. If anyone's interested, here's what I did: 
Step 1 - Made kava as I usually do but added 20% coconut oil in addition to the dried root. My logic was that if a maximum of 20% of dried root is kavalactones, then I should add 20% of the weight of the root in oil. At cooler temperatures the oil is solid, but since it's been so hot lately, I didn't need to heat it or anything as it was already liquified at room temp. I used approx 30 g of dried root (~5 tbsp), 2.5 cups of water, and 6 g (~1 tbsp) of oil. 

Step 2 - Squeezed and agitated kava ball as usual. Nothing new here. Poured the final mixture into a tupperware container for refrigeration. As you can see in the photo below, the oil is floating on top of the water but is all broken up due to the squeezing and agitation. I was hoping that it would go back to being a nice little ball of oil like in the beginning but that never happened.

Here are a couple of photos of it the next day after refrigeration. The oil is solidified on top and has a yellow tinge to it.


At this point I had to taste it so I spooned some of the floating oil off the top. Mild flavor but definite and immediate numbing effects. It pretty much melts in your mouth and I tried to let it melt under my tongue like Paradise Kava's extract. 


Step 3 - I put it through a strainer since it seemed like spooning all the pieces out would be a giant pain in the ass. I'm glad I did because it totally would have been. Even after straining, there was still solidified oil stuck to the side of the container that I had to scrape off with my spoon.


Finished product: Here's the oil in a container by itself.


Final notes: I haven't had enough to make a judgment call. From the small teaspoonful that I had, I could tell that mild effects were present, but at this point I can't say how effective it is. Still, it was a fun project. Right now I'm working on drinking the leftover liquid. I can say for certain that the liquid has very little numbing effects so that must have been extracted almost completely into the oil. I will find out soon enough if it's devoid of any of kava's other effects and will post an update later. Hope this was interesting reading for those who have been curious about making something like this.
 
K

kl.KarmaG

Kava Enthusiast
Thanks guys. The blue Pyrex is straight out of the 70s. I've got one with flowers on it too!



I drank the remaining kava liquid last night. Very mild effects, almost negligible - much, much milder than what I've come to expect from the same amount of Tongan Pride without the oil extraction. Almost no numbing at all. I'm tempted to say that I was successful in extracting the vast majority of the kavalactones into the oil. Either that or I totally destroyed some good kava! I'll try the extract by itself in the next couple of days and let you know.
 
K

kl.KarmaG

Kava Enthusiast
So finally here are the results: I ate the coconut oil extract and there were definite effects. It was very numbing and there was a relaxing feel to it as well as nice tingling in my back and neck. I wish I hadn't eaten that teaspoon on the first day and saved it all for one session, though, because it turned out to be quite a bit less than I usually drink in one session making it hard to truly gauge. Still I'm happy with my results and it was definitely a fun project. 
I've been messing around with some variations and wanted to share my newest creation...(drumroll please)...kava chocolates! I made two small batches so that I have enough for a proper trial. Photo 1 is the Hawaiian and the second batch is the Fijian. I didn't have a mold so I just dropped them onto the foil and refrigerated. I'm looking forward to testing them out! Here are some photos:
 
K

kl.CarolinaBC

Kava Enthusiast
Sweet!!  And literally too.  Let me know how the taste and effect come out.  How many tbs of root went into each batch?  You have my interest on this one.
 
K

kl.KarmaG

Kava Enthusiast
Eating the chocolates now. I used some instant that I had bought from Island Kava for the chocolates - equal parts instant kava powder, cocoa powder, and coconut oil plus agave nectar and a bit of molasses to sweeten. Since I'm just messing around, I didn't really measure how much instant per chocolate but I figured roughly a little under 1/4 tsp per dollop (Island Kava recommends 1/4 tsp per serving so just under a serving each). The consistency is kind of fudge-like and they taste pretty good and quite sweet. To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of agave nectar since I think the sweetness is almost too sweet but I had some lying around so I figured I'd use it. I think I'm going to try this again since I'm pretty pleased with my results but maybe use honey next time. Effects-wise, it's the same as if I had drank the same amount. That's the beauty of using instant instead of trying to extract, since the instant is pretty much a dehydrated water extraction to begin with. I've had 5 of the Hawaiian and am feeling very nice!
 
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