Hello everyone,
I'm currently developing a comprehensive extraction guide tentatively titled the "Speedy Harmalas Tek." This work is inspired by the core ideas of Ouro/Mydriasis, Brenneses Wasser, and Gibran2.
Before finalizing the full tek, I'm running optimization tests. My initial experiment on pre-freezing seeds produced a much clearer result than anticipated, so I wanted to share these preliminary findings.
Background & Hypothesis:
The power of freezing plant material to break down cell walls is well-known. Years ago, I froze 3x boiled (spent) San Pedro cactus skins before a final 4th boil and observed potent effects through bioessay, confirming the technique's utility. Seeing this mentioned this in several other forum posts about Syrian Rue, I hypothesized that applying this to whole rue seeds could improve harmala alkaloid yield.
Experiment: Freezing vs. Direct Boil
The freeze-thaw batch (Batch 2) produced at least twice the amount of precipitated harmalas compared to the control batch. The difference is visually clear in the attached photos.
Limitations:
I'm motivated to compile this new, pictorial whole-seed tek for two reasons:
I'm currently developing a comprehensive extraction guide tentatively titled the "Speedy Harmalas Tek." This work is inspired by the core ideas of Ouro/Mydriasis, Brenneses Wasser, and Gibran2.
Before finalizing the full tek, I'm running optimization tests. My initial experiment on pre-freezing seeds produced a much clearer result than anticipated, so I wanted to share these preliminary findings.
Background & Hypothesis:
The power of freezing plant material to break down cell walls is well-known. Years ago, I froze 3x boiled (spent) San Pedro cactus skins before a final 4th boil and observed potent effects through bioessay, confirming the technique's utility. Seeing this mentioned this in several other forum posts about Syrian Rue, I hypothesized that applying this to whole rue seeds could improve harmala alkaloid yield.
Experiment: Freezing vs. Direct Boil
- Material: 80g of whole Syrian rue seeds from the same vendor bag, split into two 40g batches.
- Process:
- Batch 1 (Control): Whole dry seeds were boiled directly in the ~400ml of tap water for 40 minutes.
- Batch 2 (Frozen): Whole seeds were frozen overnight in ~400ml of tap water. They were thawed and soaked for ~12 hours (soaking was incidental due to my work schedule). The whole seeds were boiled in the same water at 80-85°C for 40 minutes
- Extraction: Each boiled solution was separately strained, and the solutions were both based with sodium carbonate and stirred until the color change stabilized.
The freeze-thaw batch (Batch 2) produced at least twice the amount of precipitated harmalas compared to the control batch. The difference is visually clear in the attached photos.
Limitations:
- The two 40g batches of seeds, though coming from the same vendor, could have had different amounts of harmalas
- The extended soak time for the frozen batch may have contributed to the yield. An ideal control would have involved soaking both batches.
I'm motivated to compile this new, pictorial whole-seed tek for two reasons:
- After just doing 2 tedious and messy extractions using powdered rue that took over 1.5 weeks to complete, I believe the community would benefit from a clear, streamlined whole-seed guide using modern methods. Speaking of less-than-modern teks, I should note that just like "my" DMT tek, I will mostly be expanding-on and taking pictures of the great ideas of others while making sure to credit their work.
- As a Canadian dealing with some months-long online college delays from an American university, I need a project to focus on!
