help with san pedro

hey hey, my parents are going to amsterdam (lol) for valentines which means i have the house to myself on sunday night, so im buying a few strips of san pedro. only thing is, i have no idea how to prepare it, so i was wondering if anyone could give me a few pointers as to how i can go about doing it, as easily and with as little mess as possible. thanks

mart

 

Is the material fresh or dry ? How much material ?


K

 

lol i dont know! i havent bought it yet, thinking back on it i probably should have thought of that before i posted. i THINK it's fresh, and it needs to go between two people.

 

boil it til its a sticky syrup. have cheese on hand because the taste is vile.

 

Cheese..hmmmm never considered cheese lol

Well mart, you need to find out whether it is fresh or dried, is it normal san pedro, or is it peruvian torch or cuzcoensis or another variety. San pedro ( pachanoi ) is not as strong as the others so you have to ensure you have enough


K

 

ok, well im buying it tomorrow hopefully so i'll let you know then. until then, what is the easiest way to prepare cactus? i cant really boil it up because i don't want my dad to make some beans in a saucepan and find them speaking to him lol

 

It you use stainless cookware and clean thoroughly, there should be no reason to worry about contamination and subsequent use. As you will see, its going to take a lot to get off and minute amounts that could be missed after a cleaning wont do a damn thing.

You could try to eat raw, but I’m betting you won’t last long. Peel the skin but keep as much of the dark green flesh just under the skin. (this contains the majority alkaloids) Do not eat the white core (looks like the cob portion of corn) The flesh is slimy, nasty, and the absolute worst tasting thing on the planet.


If you wish to make tea:

Start by cutting the cacti into sections and blend with water. The majority of the alkaloids is in the dark green layer just below the skin, however, its much easier to blend the whole thing.

Once its all blended put into large pan, add some more water (maybe a quart or so) and bring to a boil slowly. Make sure to keep stirring and don’t rush. You will notice a frothy foamy sticky snotty layer start to rise, continue stirring and lower heat to keep it from overflowing.

After some time the frothy layer will stop rising and the consistency will be more like water than snot. At this point you can crank up the heat. Continue to stir and boil out the water. It is advisable to add more water and continue to boil as much alkaloid content out of the mash as possible. The longer you boil the more alkaloids will transfer from plant material to the water.

Depending on how much plant material you started with will determine how much tea you will have left over. Some suggest trying to boil it down to a shot or two but the consistency changes before one can get that far. It becomes real thick, burns easily, and eventually becomes a tar like substance. As I have never been able to accomplish this step without burning the tar I do not know if it will work or not. I suggest dealing with having to drink the multiple glasses of tea.

Use some kind of strainer (cheesecloth, pantyhose, t shirt) to separate the plant material from the “tea”. Toss the plant material, drink the tea. Its wise to drink some and wait so as not to shock the body. It all depends on the potency of the cactus, and you wont know until you drink the tea.

 

thanks man, that was exactly what i was after - will a sieve do to seperate the plant matter?

 

lets just say the finer the strainer, the less plant material you will take in. An old but clean t shirt works good and can get tossed with the plant muck

 

Good wishes on your journey mart, report back

k

 

lol i cant bloody believe it! they've stopped selling it! waaaaaaaaah..... i looked around and they're the only shop that sells it in brighton. we're gonna have to make do with mushrooms again