Hi family! @silverlining1 here again with a VERY detailed post on the preparation, cooking and consumption of San Pedro *from here on I will refer to it as Huachuma*
First a little background about me I've been living in Peru for 3 years working with plant medicine, my main work has been with Ayahuasca and some master plants but the last two years I have been working more and more with Huachuma and I have a great deal of respect for this medicine.
I currently live and work at a surf/yoga/medicine camp in Lobitos, Peru and take groups out regularly to experience this father plant.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with this medicine I will leave an excerpt from a site that consolidated the history and effects quite well and a link.
The “Greatest Plant Teacher”
"Huachuma (also variously known as andachuma, aguacolla, or wachuma) is a lesser-known shamanic medicine, but one that some consider the greatest of all plant teachers on the South American continent. It’s derived from the San Pedro cactus and comprised principally of mescaline — in its pure form, a psychedelic similar in effect to LSD or psilocybin. Though it has parallels to the iboga ceremonies of West Africa and the ayahuasca ceremonies of the Amazon, huachuma and the curanderos who use it originate in the Andes of Peru and surrounding desert regions. Its history stretches back as far as 1200 BCE, when it was used by the Chavín culture on the west coast of South America. The Chavín produced many sacred designs of a deity clutching the distinctive cactus, making it the oldest recorded psychedelic medicine. It may have its roots as a sacrament to ancient rain cults. Its use today extends into northern Chile, Bolivia, and Ecuador, where many curanderos practice in the original Chavín tradition."
I encourage you to also do your own research beyond what I am providing because this is to be considered a guide for preparation and how I personally give respect to the medicine not a history lesson or a scientific breakdown of the effects of mescaline (both are quite extensive) and can be found quite easily with a google search.
STEP 1: Qualities of the cactus
This guide is going to take into account that you have your own huachuma already, all I will add is that when picking out your cactus whether it's 5,6,7 or 8 sided that you look to make sure it doesn't have to much scarring on it which looks like brown pock marks, this doesn't really effect the strength of the medicine but it can make it more difficult when you start peeling the plastic(y) layer that covers the cactus. Also watch for rot which will need to be cut out and therefore reduces the amount of good cactus you can use.
I personally portion out a dose of cactus by sizing it from elbow to finger tip for 1 dose but it's also to good to take into account the girth as sometimes I am working with skinny cactus, when I work with a thicker ones I shorten the length depending on how how fat it is.
To answer a question I get quite a lot about the difference between the different sided cactus and the effects I will simply say that after much experimentation I have found there to be a slightly different energy between the different sided cactus and undertook this experiment by only cooking with same sided cactus for awhile (started with only cooking 6 sided making sure I was the only one to prepare it and after 5-6 cooks moved on to only 7 sided etc). I have reached no definitive conclusion to this question but let people know that it's quite common if you purchase it from a shop that the more sides seem to be more expensive though I have not found one more powerful than another only slightly different.
A larger factor that is important to address is the one who prepares it shares their energy with the plant during the cook, I wholeheartedly suggest that you take into account the state of the cooker who prepared your medicine and pass on drinking if you don't feel that person exemplifies respect and love both for the plant and for others. If you are preparing it yourself please keep this in mind and feel free to treat this cactus as a much loved and respected grandfather, sing to it, bless it and work with the energy of gratitude and love. I live in a place where many new people visit so I ask them when they see it cooking to please not stir or touch the medicine but that they are more than welcome to sing to it and bless it.
Step 2: Preparation before cooking
Things needed for this process
-sharp knife *serrated blade is better*
-cutting board
-blender
Estimated time: 1-3 hours depending on how many doses are being prepared
I suggest cutting the cactus into strips, you will end up with as many strips as there is sides to the cactus so for instance if you work with a 6 sided cactus you will have 6 slices and if you are working with a 7 sided you will of course end up with 7 slices
The psychoactive part of the cactus we are extracting is the darkest green show above in the cross section photo. If you have a garden or compost I suggest moving all unused materials back to the earth, I have created a garden specifically for san pedro so I return all unused matter back into that soil.
Use the knife on the strip to cut an almost "V" shape following the natural shape of your strip but not cutting away any of the dark green matter only the white. *The photo below on the left shows one cut this way and the other not*
Now take notice of the skin of the cactus as an almost plastic wrap covering everything, there are two ways to handle this, you can either slowly pull it off being careful not to take the dark green matter with it *takes practice* as I've shown below OR if you have a good blender you can skip this step completely.
When I first started working with this medicine I always pulled the skin back because I enjoyed seeing if I could get it all pulled off in one piece but quite often when I worked with more than 3-4 doses I would experience getting cuts under my finger nails and it started to remind me of some kind of torture i'd heard about where bamboo shoots are pushed under the finger nails and so for larger cooks which I almost exclusively do now I skip this step. benefits of doing it this way is that you feel closer to the medicine because you put in the extra effort and also that when you get to the cook there is less hard matter in the pot which has a really beautiful lime green colour to it shown below.
Once you've reached this point you will have several strips of mostly dark green and you are ready for the blender, this process can be hard on the blender especially if you haven't taken the plastic like skin off so I suggest using a good quality brand name blender and to chop the slices up quite well as shown below. Another trick is to add an inch or two of water to the blender when you put the slices in and not to fill it to the top with chunks. I start with a slower setting on the blender but then move into a more medium speed after that holding for around 10 seconds.
From the blender the huachuma is poured into the pot you will be using for cooking which brings us to the next step...
Step 3: Cooking
Things needed for this process
-large pot
-consistent heated like a burner element or for the more advanced a fire
Estimated time of cook 6-10 hours
Once you have blended all your huachuma it's time to put it into your large pot and turn the heat up enough that it starts to bubble, it's important to watch it at this stage because there is a tendency for it to over-boil.
Once there is a good boil you will start to notice the consistency change, it's moving from a frothy green goop into a liquid form, this is good and requires some stirring. *continue stirring through the process at least once every 15 mins*
Once the goop has changed into a chunky liquid you can reduce the heat, we aren't trying to reduce the liquid anymore and so we are working with a simmer where the water might still be moving but it's not quite a boil, this is our sweet spot for the duration of our cook so that we aren't creating reduction rings of wasted huachuma on the sides of the pot. Traditionally this is done over the fire for 8-12 hours to fully activate and extract the mescaline but thanks to our blender and burners we can cut this time down quite a bit, I still like to cook it for about 6-8 hours before moving into the straining and reduction stage but I will be experimenting further with reduced times. *Cooking over a fire is also possible but a little more complicated because you will need a steady heat and requires a little more attention to stirring*
If for whatever reason you notice it is reducing to quickly and you are running out of liquid feel free to add water to the pot at any time
Step 4: Straining and Reduction
Things needed for this process
-filter
-a spare pot
-ladle
Estimated time: 2-4 hours
So now you should have a pot of chunky huachuma ready to filter, I recommend cheese cloth as a filter but since that is not available where I am alternatives are old t-shirts cut into a square or rectangle (the bigger the better), any type of light cloth works just take into account dyes *wash several times* and that you will be squeezing the cloth with a lot of strength so if your cloth is light maybe fold it once or twice so it doesn't break while you're using it.
Also please remember to let the huachuma cool down before you start working with it, I know it sounds like a "duh" but I've done it :)
Wrap your cloth around the clean empty spare pot as seen below and start to ladle the chunkier portions of the huachuma into it, once you've ladled in about 3 or 4 times wrap the cloth up and begin straining, this will take some elbow grease and your forearms will become tired but this is an important part of the process so take a break if you need to and start fresh again.
Once you have strained the entire contents you will have left over plant matter that I want you to keep for a second strain. You will reconstitute the plant matter with water until its not so chunky and begin the process a second time. -This is a very important part of the process-
Once you've done your second strain you should have a beautiful glassy green liquid (my favourite part)
Now we are in the home stretch! Reduction!
This part is very simple but requires that you watch it and gauge when you want to stop, turn the burner on high so that there is a heavy boil and stir every ten minutes. You are going to reduce it down to the amount you would like to drink per dose so for instance this batch is 9 doses so I eyeballed *I know not very technical but this is my preference* it until I guessed it was around 1/2 cup per dose and then turned the heat off *keep in mind that while cooling the huachuma will continue to reduce a little more unless you put a lid on the pot*
Once it's cooled move it into a container (preferably clear so you can check the mescaline level) and after it's sat over night you can view the mescaline as it's heavier and will move to the bottom of the container, make sure you shake well before each use!
I have experimented with storing it for longer amounts of time (up to 8 months) and it is still effective though it does ferment and should to be opened every once in awhile so it doesn't build up to much pressure. I prefer it fresh and if possible I suggest drinking it within the first couple weeks, after that it ferments more and more and the taste while never enjoyable for me gets even more repugnant.
Set and Setting
Huachuma is best with natural settings, forest,jungle,beach it brings out a feeling of connection with nature similar to magic mushrooms and dmt, feel free to enjoy it with good friends but also remember it's medicine and take into account that there is a benefit to taking some or a lot of personal time with this plant spirit.
If you've made it this far I want to share something funny that happened a few days ago when I was making this last batch, It's not unusual that when I commit to making medicine life throws some funny things my way, this time it came in the form of a 70 year old German man with a rainbow coloured axe and a VERY long beard, he popped his head in while I was cooking and asked what was going on, I let him know what I was doing and he started dancing for us and giving us shaitsu finger massages. Enjoy your huachuma experience and be open to your own strange magical experiences unfolding ;)
If you like this post or have any questions please let me know in the comments below, I am immersing myself in the steemit community and love collecting new friends
wow. thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks brother I've been meaning to document the process in it's entirety and it feels good knowing it's done!
What a great, in depth post! I am growing a san pedro cactus, mostly just for fun as it is pretty small still and I am more into shepharding it along in its journey than cutting it up. Would love to be able to share this experience with you some time. Will hit you up if I am ever heading down that way :) Much love - Carl
:D you are my favourite person in the world right meow Carl, the cactus will grow about a foot a year but if you slice it on a slight angle it will first dry and then you might get 2-4 buds that start growing out of it, if you let the part you cut dry you can replant that as well ;)
hey man, excellent write up and thanx for sharing! .. we did aya and san pedro a year ago in peru, two different experiences .. adventure of a lifetime, well worth repeating .. hope to run into you sometime .. take care.
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