I'm working with fresh material for the first time and am looking to find the simplest way to remove the skin and spines.

I remember hearing of someone freezing before removing the skin and that the skin came off really easily that way. Has anyone tried this method?

Yes I have, and it's a pretty good method in my opinion. Just cut along the length between the ribs and peel it off. The spines can now also be removed just by holding the skin around the spine tightly and pulling quickly. Good luck!

i like to think that the chavin image you use as your avatar has long fingernails for a reason. i grow out my thumb and index finger nails to peel cacti more effectively.

ive found that if you start from the bottom and work your way to the top while keeping focus youll accomplish the goal quite well and may even get your peel time down to 10 min/ foot

i find achuma has easier skin to peel, it seems stronger so it comes off in bigger hunks

also de areole the specimen before attempting a peel. (save the areoles and other scraps for a brew later). the other scraps are the top several inches (should you choose not to plant it) and the calloused bottom (should it have been shipped without roots)

the top several inches are exceedingly time consuming to peel and as such i suggest just severing it. dice it up with the other scraps, youll get the goods through the tea method anyway. since the top is the youngest part of the plant the skin hasnt had time to harden like the rest of the plant. mature cacti form such a thick skin it appears like a bark.


ive tried the freezing thing, and it dosent particularly make it easier for me, i find peeling to be simple. it is also a meditive process where i affirm my intention of working with the medicine. i find that if i loose focus my peeling becomes subpar, and also it really works better peeling toward the tip.

https://www.dmt-nexus.me....aspx?g=posts&t=9693 tried and true. Phluxs fresh cactus guide is stickied in the wrong forum i think. Any mods want to move it from cultivation to preparation?

Is your plan to do an extraction or to make a tea? If you are making a tea with it I wouldn't even bother deskinning it. Just simply cut it into chunks and boil. The skin will peel off on its own. Then filter it out and reduce.

I'd like to hear the opinions of others on this matter. Is there really no benefit to removing the skin before brewing? Cuz I am making tea.

I don't deskin or despine for tea or extractions. That said I haven't done tea much or in a while and it is unpleasant for me regardless. Of course you have to filter well with tea to get spines out.

Here is the original internet pictorial for making tea, from mycotopia/thenook in 2002 before the big mycotopia hippie takover. Really nanook popularized this method 2001 - 2003 as far as accessing a tek on the web is concerned and this is his method with pictures of how he skins it. http://www.thenook.org/n...ex.php?title=Pedro_Syrup

the post of phlux's method is of course just fine and would work great.

when making tea it dosent really matter

cool. Well thanks for the responses. I ended up despining and skinning as per the method posted (cutting into snakes). Pretty easy although the skin is much harder to peel from tissue with scars and stuff. Doesn't wanna come off in one piece. I figure since I went to the trouble of skinning it, I'll fillet it and try to just eat the green tissue raw and make a tea with the white tissue and the core.

if i may...


since youve already bothered with fileting the green flesh i highly suggest you perform the following procedure

the following guide employs the use of a dehydrator
if one is unavailable, get one. youll keep re using it

1. make sure your "snakes" are only the outter 5mm green flesh (you may have to cut out a "v" of white if your "snakes" were each rib
2. dehydrate the outter 5mm green flesh
3. make tea out of everything else
4. decant tea overnight
5. reduce tea to resin
6. powder dehydrated green flesh
7. mix the powdered green flesh with the resin and create balls about 1cm in diameter
8. swallow balls with minimal fluid after fasting 12+ hours (about 1oz liquid/foot cacti prepared as prescribed above)

its important to prehydrate a gallon or so during the fast, but not within 2 hours of ingestion. prehydrating reduces chances/intensity of headaches. having as little liquid in your stomach as possible reduces nausea. refrain from drinking until about 5 hours into the experience. the minimal amount of liquid used to chase your cacti balls will dissolve the water soluble resin holding the cacti powder intact. you will first digest the rehydrated resin (faster effects) then the powder (slightly delayed effects). this one-two combo lessens the comeup uneasiness and seggweighs the user into a state of entheogenisis comfortably. its been said that 2+ feet of achuma prepared as prescribed is enough for breakthroughs.

enjoy

:::3

I doubt I'll get to all that between now and the 21st, but I'll have to try it another time. Thanks for all the great advice!

with a dehydrator, pie dish, coffee grinder
it can be done in 1 day, start to finish