So, a couple of weeks ago I did a test run of a rue extraction using very old seeds (the tail end of my last purchase) and NaOH following white rasta's method, cuz I had nothing else available and was waiting on my new seeds. I really did it just as a learning experience and wanted to see how a non-manske extraction would go. I dissolved NaOH in some water completely, added to my alcohol-evapped and re-hydrated rue extract and watched the alkaloids crash out. I've now had a light brown/tan extract peeking at me from the bottom of a mason jar for almost all of October.

My question is, how safe is this to ingest? I made sure the lye was fully dissolved and added just a little basified water at a time. The extraction was a little sticky where it was on the glass, but it dried out fine after it was scraped. Generally speaking, I'm not a big fan of lye, bought a bunch of it back when I started doing spice extractions and have more or less been sitting on it as I've switched to food safe extractions for my alkaloids. As such, I'm probly being overly paranoid with my lack of expert chemistry skillz. Anyway, due to a series of not quite unfortunate events, I had no ammonia, no car, and was itching to try a new method out. Since that time I've done a whiterasta extraction with ammonia and great results, I'm just curious if I should do anything with my practice extraction, or just toss it and take away the learning experience.

Thanks

lye is sometimes used in processing olives..

if it was totally dissolved in water and you dried properly, I dont think it should be a problem.. In any case, you could make a sodium carbonate wash, or rather just dont worry and when you want to consume, pre-dissolve them in some warm lightly acidified solution (orange/lemon juice, or whatever) and then drink, and this will neutralize any possible remaining lye

Outta curiosity, what does lye do for olives? Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I'll try some of the extract in some lemon-water and see how it compares to the ammonia-extracted crystals.

NaOH is actually used in a lot of foods to adjust the pH. I don't know about olives.

yeah it is exactly to adjust the pH

Lye is used to make good German Pretzels too. Crispy crust with soft fluffy inside. Much better than those crappy pretzels at the mall.

Sodium carbonate is also used for that purpose.

Maybe I`m just retarted, but is it realy a big problem to pop down to Tesco`s or elsewhere and get 250 g of pure food grade NaHCO3 for 65 pence baked couple of hours at full power in oven to gain almost 250 g of Na2CO3 ?

Lye (or/and) ammonia in consumables ? bleauh. ILPT was never dare enough to use lye, but when he once used ammonia the precip. has hint of taste from it and it was way too disgusting.
It`s next to imposssible for him get pure or at least food grade lye.

ILPT and all parrots are gutted, what the hell they hearing

well where I am, pure food grade lye is common place in supermarkets..

as for ammonia, well, it should evaporate completely so if SWIY's parrot felt some ammonia taste, he probably just didnt evaporate/dry well enough

In any case for rue I think sodium carbonate is better because of being ,easier and safer to deal with, no danger of overshooting the pH, , spills, etc... So I would rather recommend using sodium carbonate next times.. but since the thread was about someone that already used the lye, I was just explaining that its not necessarily a problem

Interesting about the foodstuffs, I never really thought about acids/bases in foods, although most cooking/baking is essentially chemistry...


Not retarded at all, but "going down to Tesco's" or having any quantity of "pence" would require me to fly across the pond... so, probly not gonna go that route...point taken though. No, as I was saying, I was stuck at home due to my car being temporarily incapacitated. That's why I went through the whole "test run" explanation in my first post.

I didn't think there'd be a problem, just wanted to check with the more knowledgeable chemists on here before potentially ingesting something harmful. I've had great success with ammonia and the lye turned out a pretty good product after all. Once the ammonia's gone i'll switch up to sodium carbonate and see how that goes...

Thanks

Wasn`t pointed on your swim who is probably living in usa but on folk generaly. It`s always wise to use something food grade.Surely one can get baking soda everywhere, not only in tesco uk lol.
One can get 98 % sodium hydroxide here, in Wilkinsons store, but it`s not stated what are the other 2 % and whether or not it`s free of heavy metals and other crap.
On other hand NaOH is strong base and not much is needed to rise pH.
ILPT is maybe just oveconcerned in healthy issues, as he has bad experience with disrespecting chemistry. He has been told off for that, yet doesn`t change his attitude. lol


Parrot evaporated it well and dry it too, yet could taste slight hint of amine fishiness. Nothing major though.