So it has been a couple days since my last blog post, but I would like to start out by thanking all of you who have already perused the blog posts to date and encourage you to leave comments or to sign up to "follow" this blog. Also, please consider checking out the two website links posted previously. The following addition to the blog is a narrative of the technical process and results of my extractions I described earlier.
We left off a few days ago, during which I was describing my intention to develop an elixir for physiological difficulties due to the altitude of the lodge. This was quite the fun experiment! Nostalgic remembrances of the scientific activities of my youth flooded my mind as I ground, extracted, filtered, and reduced the resulting volume of natural plant materials to produce some product that possessed positive physiological effects. Seventeen short years ago, I was performing a similar task on a variety of nutshells and nut meats with hopes of finding an extract with biological activity against various cancer cell lines and/or antagonistic microorganisms--a project that would spur my scientific curiosity and garner me 2nd place in chemistry at the International Science and Engineering Fair my junior and senior years in high school.
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| 100 g of dried leaves |
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| The plant material post-grinding |
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| The ethanol/plant mixture |
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| My filtration apparatus |
For the first extraction with 100 g of plant material, I performed the thermally accelerated extraction using the wood stove in the ceremonial yurt with two other plant additives, namely the leaves of a lemon balm plant and stevia. In addition, I added an excess amount of a basic "activator," a general term used for any additive that assists in the extraction of alkaloids from plant materials. After the separation of the biomass from the solvent used for the extraction (95% ethanol/water), I then washed the plant material, raising the volume higher than desirable, so an additional volume reduction was necessary. The wood stove proved to be too irregular and uncontrollable heating method, producing a color change from green to brown. After scratching my head for a bit, I attempted to shift the equilibrium by adding additional activator (a commonly used weak base), which produced the desired return of the chlorophyll-esque hue of the concoction. Upon achieving the desired final volume, I transferred the extract to an amber colored container and went searching for guinea pigs.
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| The dropper bottle (for dispensing), one of two bottles of the first extract (center), the second larger amber bottle of the pure oil (2nd batch, right) |
These test subjects were not too hard to wrangle, and all were VERY pleased with the effects--a general boost in overall physiological vitality. In my second batch, I switched from the wood stove to a gas stovetop, removed all additives but the activator of which I used only a tablespoon for this iteration. After removing all the ethanol I could safely, the result was a smaller volume, higher potency, oil. This oil then will serve as the concentrated base from which to make more dilute tinctures of the product. Overall, I would say that this project was quite pleasantly successful and will prove to be a valuable tonic to newly arriving retreat guests having difficulty with the two-miles of altitude that we experience at the lodge. I also plan on utilizing the entire plant material, so maybe I'll experiment with making coca-paper from the residual plant solids.
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| The left over plant material. |
The relative success of these extractions also led to another opportunity to contribute during the retreats that we hold. A three-session extract preparation course has now weaseled its way into our retreat schedule to be taught by yours truly. To successfully teach such a mini-course, I do have to search out more accurate volume-measuring tools to utilize in the dilution process--something that might prove difficult in a rather isolated Andean city, but I'll make do with what I have.
Well, I guess that brings some closure to my initial extraction experiments. I plan on describing two more projects I've been investigating during the past two days, but that will have to wait until later today. Until the next time, my friends...
Be the change you want to see in the world around you...
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