"peeling kava before drying it..."

[kavadude]

I was talking to one of the vendors the other day and asked him why different batches of his kava taste differently. He replied that "The difference between batches is that some new farmers are yet to understand the law, regarding peeling kava before drying it. I will be going to the Island at Christmas and do more awareness on this aspect and getting the growers to form a small association which will deal with these quality issues directly at source."
This got me a bit worried as I thought that kava must be peeled as the skin contains some toxic elements. But I suppose he meant that they would only peel it after drying? In any case, have you heard about this issue?

 

[Monkava'd]

Here's some helpful info on the matter and I'm pretty sure that as long as that "skin peel" isn't taken from above ground level it is considered safe to consume and 'generally' non hepatoxic. But that assumption may not be entirely correct.
http://www.hbcprotocols.com/products-KV270.html
Edit-Forgot about the "makas", this's what you may be talking about but I'm unsure; that goes for the other thread I posted in as well.

 

[JonT]

Is skin peel = "makas"

@Gourmet Hawaiian Kava ?

 

[Gourmet Hawaiian Kava]

Is skin peel = "makas"

@Gourmet Hawaiian Kava ?

No not at all. Look at this post and the pictures I posted, you will see the thin flat makas and the rest is good parts of the kava, the inner bark and all the other stuff, here is the post----
http://www.kavaforums.com/forum/threads/some-more-pictures-of-hawaiian-awa-kava.2100/

Look at the last 6 pictures and read what they are all about, look at the last 3 pictures for a good look at the makas and the rest of the kava that is good, the makas actually makes a star pattern in the root as you can see in one of the pictures. Makas is the hardest part of the kava plant, very hard compared to the rest of the kava plant. Let me know if you have any other questions about makas or anything else kava.
Aloha.

Chris