I recently was looking at some older harmala extraction jars which I was about to dispose of after having collected harmalas from all the jars(3)
I noticed however in one of the jars what appeared to be ice I was extremely confused since none of the other jars had anything. I decided to melt the ice so I opened the jar lid and put the jar in a bath of warm water, however the ice would not melt.

I then realized that it was a precipitate and felt pretty stupid, however after removing the precipitate I realized they were clear crystals, almost like salt crystals. This is curious because no salt was used in the precipitation process merely sodium carbonate because I wanted all the alkaloids and read that salt will not precipitate thh. The yield from the extraction approximately a month ago was rather small,

any idea on what this clear crystal is?

Thanks everyone

Peace and Love

(edit)
here is the pic

possibly late-precipitating harmaline... ? but it does indeed look a lot like salt

did you use any toxic chemical in the process? because otherwise, just taste a little bit and tell us what it tastes like.

what are you extracting from, caapi or rue?

i'm sure that's salt. water evaporated and salt precipitated out

but he said he didnt use any


anyways, another test the OP can make: what is the consistency? Salt you can rub against your finger and it maintains 'grainy' and solid.. Harmalas on the otherhand they 'rub into' your fingers and 'disapear', they dont maintain solid

Thanks for your responses, heres a quick update, I was using a rue extract which I was attempting to purify.

It was actually a basement shaman rue extract that was purchased a long time ago and wanted to purify because it always gave extreme nausea even on smaller doese.

I was surprised given the amount of extract being purified how little harmalas I was able to filter out, so I saved the solution for later attempt at salting etc.

Is it possible basement shaman used salts to create their extract and I simply removed these? is it possible over time to create harmaloid salts? I really do not know.

The crystals are definitely a salt, is soluble in h20 and vinegar but not in naptha, is there any way to find out what salts these are?

thanks again everyone

Peace and love

edit: no toxic chemicals were used just sodium carbonate and vinegar
also it tastes very sour and creates a burning sensation on the tounge, but dissolves rapidly, does not taste like sodium carbonate.

You have sodium acetate. It's especially obvious when you mention the taste.

"Sodium acetate is inexpensive, and is usually purchased from chemical suppliers, instead of being synthesized in the laboratory. It is sometimes produced in a laboratory experiment by the reaction of acetic acid with sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, or sodium hydroxide. These reactions produce aqueous sodium acetate, and water. Carbon dioxide is produced in the reaction with sodium carbonate and bicarbonate, and it leaves the reaction vessel as a gas (unless the reaction vessel is pressurized).

CH3–COOH + Na+[HCO3]– → CH3–COO– Na+ + H2O + CO2

This is the well-known "volcano" reaction between baking soda and vinegar. 84 grams of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) react with 750 ml of 8% vinegar to make 82 g sodium acetate in water. By boiling off most of the water, one can refine either a concentrated solution of sodium acetate or crystals."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_acetate

sodium acetate is awesome - if u mix sodium carbonate or bicarb with vinegar and then evap u get sodium carbonate, if u can get this pure enough and evap it down enough then it instantly xtallizes when you touch it - u can grow head sized xtals in seconds - they grow in less than 2 blinks of the eye, you can even make stalagmites - check youtube or indestructables.