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Kava Preparation DIY coconut-kava "paste"

TheKavaSociety

TheKavaSociety

New Zealand
Kava Vendor
A friend of mine has recently told me about this "coconut oil method" of preparing/consuming kava. I am not sure if it's his invention or if he's found it somewhere online, but in case anyone was interested, here's his recipe:

"Basically you blend kava with ample warm/hot water then melt a couple tablespoons of coconut oil into the mix. Give it a very good stir (or blend it again) then pour the whole lot into a tall container. The coconut oil and kavalactones float to the top and the root stock falls to the bottom. Put it in the fridge for half an hour and you end up with a chunk of solid coconut oil that has changed from white to yellow in colour and is full of kava goodness!
If you get it right then a melted teaspoon of the stuff is about equivalent to one shell - and very easy to ingest."
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
That is a remarkable application of the supposed "fat solubility" argument for adding coconut/etc to kava preparations. Wish I had some kava on hand to give it a try.
 
blindy107

blindy107

Kava Lover
Ive made grog with coconut oil but never let it solidify. Sounds cool. I've also mixed micro with honey which would be similar I think. It was awful.
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
I'm definitely going to give it a shot when I get my kava tomorrow. Any ideas on ratio of kava to oil?
 
TheKavaSociety

TheKavaSociety

New Zealand
Kava Vendor
No idea. I'd probably use the usual amount of kava and 2-3 tablespoons of oil. One melted spoon of this thing is meant to be the kl equivalent of one shell
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Hmm. I guess I'm trying to balance not wanting to eat a bunch of oil with using enough to effectively extract maximum kavalactones.

Also, coconut oil has 117 calories per tbsp. Yowza.
 
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TheKavaSociety

TheKavaSociety

New Zealand
Kava Vendor
kavadude said:
Hmm. I guess I'm trying to balance not wanting to eat a bunch of oil with using enough to effectively extract maximum kavalactones.

Also, coconut oil has 117 calories per tbsp. Yowza.
Click to expand...
Well, maybe use 2 tbsps per 50g of root a per my friend's instructions? Coconut oil is healthy! :)
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Here is the lovely potion



50g of kava (half KWK Pouni Ono, half GHK Boroguru) added to 750ml of 120 F water (48 C) along with 3 tbsp of briefly microwaved coconut oil.

I am thinking using a square tupperware container rather than a bowl probably would have been wiser in terms of making it easier to skim the coconut oil off, but there's enough water in this batch that I don't think it will matter, if it works.

Will check it in an hour and see how it's doing.
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
So, here's the resulting paste.



I managed to eat most of it.

The first problem is that there is a couple bits of kava root at the top, in the paste. It didn't make it impossible to eat but it definitely was enough to bother me. It had a very mild effect on me. Like, maybe if I had properly strained 3 tablespoons or so of kava. I also feel like there was a fair amount of oil remaining in the sludgy kava layer on the bottom.

Two thoughts on this process:
(1) Instead of putting it directly in the fridge, I would heat it on the stove very lightly (so the oil does not separate, which it might do even at room temp), stir frequently, and strain the resulting mixture after a while (not sure how long). I'm not sure how well oily watery mixture through the strainer would go -- I'd use a strainer specifically for that purpose rather than your normal one so you don't get a bunch of oil in it. Then put that in the fridge, and let it separate.
(2) I'm not sure I would want to replace normal kneading with this method, particularly if it can't be made more efficient with my suggestion above. But it might be interesting to have home-made kava extract, and the resulting coconut oil could probably be used to make some interesting kava edibles. (I think there are a fair amount of no-bake recipes with coconut oil that might be suitable for this).

You'll also notice that my coconut oil was not particularly yellow. So maybe I used a different ratio than Henry's friend, or maybe I didn't do it right.
 
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verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
kavadude said:
That is a remarkable application of the supposed "fat solubility" argument for adding coconut/etc to kava preparations. Wish I had some kava on hand to give it a try.
Click to expand...
The fat solubility of KLs is not "supposed"... that actually is a pretty clever way of making kava extract without harmful chemicals or expensive equipment.

I wonder if it would work better if you heat up the coconut oil so that it is liquid (if it is not already) or to 140F or so, and then add the kava directly to the coconut oil, and then blend it with water..
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Nah, but the idea that adding lecithin/coconut/etc to traditional kava preps increases the potency of the preparation is.
 
TidyMinion

TidyMinion

Kava Padawan
I've used coconut oil mixed in with kava in the past. It's good for drinking if you are making it and drinking it right away otherwise the coconut oil will just make your drink chunky if you want to drink it cold after that. That's not that fun. It does change the taste also and not really for the better as one might think. the paste method is worth giving a it a shot though you could cap that pretty easily and take it with your vitamins if that's part of your routine.
 
TheKavaSociety

TheKavaSociety

New Zealand
Kava Vendor
I can't see the pictures anymore - have you deleted them?

In any case, I've spoken with another friend of mine who's tried (successfully, apparently) this method and he told me that choosing the right container is important beyond measure. It has to be a tall container. A bit like a large tube. Also, he would put the mixture in the fridge for a few hours (as opposed to just half an hour), which would (in his opinion) make the roots settle at the bottom and the oil to concentrate and solidify properly on the top. Finally, he emphasized the importance of blending/mixing it properly.

Another idea would be to try this with any micronized kava (with or without makas). Perhaps this could help to just keep the kavalactones on the top while getting all the root mass to nicely settle at the bottom of the container?
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Hmm, looks like they got deleted somehow, though I didn't do it, and I already deleted them off my phone so :/

Yeah, those all sound like good tweaks, and I bet micronized would work for keeping down the amount of paste you end up with.
 
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