Eating cactus raw?

[nicechrisman]

There's a couple guys on another forum I post on who talk about just straight up eating the cactus raw and say they get the strongest experiences from that.

I'm gonna try an experiment- I filleted the dark green flesh from what I am told is an exceptionally strong pachanoi cutting and am going to eat it raw on the 21st. I'm not wasting the other bits, I'm making tea with them as well as a smallish sized bridgesii (didn't fillet, just put in brew).

Anyone tried eating it fresh and raw? I tasted a smallish piece the other night, and it really wasn't too bad. Not nearly as bad as drinking that tea.

I'm also told that chewing it really well in your mouth before swallowing it is the way to go.

 

[Apoc]

I believe the point of boiling it is to get the actives out without eating plant material, which is totally indigestible. There's not much point in eating cactus chunks, although blending it to a pulp will work. However, you'll still be taking in a lot of cellulose, which you will likely puke up. However, my experience is that cactus tea is going to make me puke anyway..... so.... I guess eating sludge is just the same. But the more indigestible stuff you take in, the harder it will be for the stomach to absorb the actives before you barf it up.

I did consume dried cactus chunks that were soaked in temperate water. I barfed like a flame thrower. Anyway, if you're going to take it raw, the best thing is to blend it. Don't even bother with chewing. Let the blender do all the manual digestion possible.

 

[nicechrisman]

planning to chew some ginger root before and smoke lots of cannabis during ingestion to help with possibility of nausea.

I'll probably still purge, but as long as I can hold it down long enough to absorb the medicine, that's fine. Also, I'm not ingesting all the flesh, just the thin green layer between the skin and the white flesh.

 

[nicechrisman]

when I ate a decent chunk the other night, it really didn't seem like there was all that much indigestible type stuff in the fillet layer. It was mostly just watery and bitter, chewed up to pretty much nothing but liquid in my mouth pretty quickly, real easy to chew. Not nearly as terrible and gag inducing as the tea.

 

[ipumaestro]

when i was in a bind, i would throw the outter green flesh into a blender and puree it. 1 foot is about 3 massive gulps, and each one is more difficult. the effects come on much sooner and because of its immediate activity it has a slightly different feel from most other preparations.

ive eaten raw cacti countless times and have enjoyed it. however, the bulk in your stomach is a little harder to deal with than a reduced preparation. the same stipulations of stomach content apply towards nausea, more in your belly, more nauseas. so even without adding any liquid to the mix before blending youre going to have a harder time than if you had dehydrated it.

its worth a shot, but ive never had the depth of experience im used to with dehydrated preparations.

 

[ipumaestro]

ive also chewed the green flesh filets instead of blending them when i was in a bind and didnt have a blender.
once i sat in a coffee shop with a tupperware tub of filets and ate them with a fork, chasing it with coffee.

its hard to get the amount needed for a strong experience down when you slowly ingest large amounts of unreduced medicine.

 

[nicechrisman]

Do you have any suggestions for dehydrating for a guy with no dehydrator? I would assume the lowest oven setting would work. I've done that with mushrooms before just fine.

 

[ipumaestro]

considering how much more sensitive mushrooms are, i trust your oven skills.

however, there is a pretty simple safe way to do this that is totally hands off.

you can always put the filets on the intake portion of a fan, the best modification of this is to a box fan

place the box fan between two objects (ie chair seats) so that the intake is upwards and the exhuast is facing the floor.
lay your filets on the grate covering the turbine. this takes 12 hours or so. the more surface area exposed the quicker it will dry, take your filets and slice them in such a way they are more exposed to air (you can divide them long ways or add slices up and down each side)

note that once they become smaller than the grate they will either stick to the grate or fall into the fan getting semi broken before being ejected onto the floor/ surface underneath.

its no big deal to pick up dehydrated cactus chunks from the floor, its not as bad as youd think considering you just scored dehydrated skins without using a dehydrator.

these chips may not be totally dry, you can then either place them back on the grate ontop/ innovate a finer grate or wide mesh to allow them to dry completely. or leave them in an open container and theyll dry out by themselves a bit slower