Cacti - T. pachanoi
Citation: j. "Best Way to Peel and Prep: An Experience with Cacti - T. pachanoi (exp29571)". Erowid.org. May 3, 2018. erowid.org/exp/29571
Preparation of raw San pedro cactus can be a painful and time consuming experience. Since I spent a few months in Bolivia with these plants growing all over the place, I had enough time to figure out a way to do it rather fast and easy.
If one wants to peel away the skin of the San Pedro Cactus I have found a way to do it that is as easy as unpeeling a sticker.
First use some needle nose pliers to yank off the thorns and their base.
Second, cut the cactus along it's length along the ridge where the spines. In the vallys, make one's cut at a 90 degree angle so that one is left with triangular wedges.
Thirdly and my main motive for writing this is my method for removing the skin. To remove the skin, one should hold a sharp knife with it's edge facing away from one at a downward angle few centimeters above a table. Take a strip and catch it on the knife just under the skin. Once caught on this edge pull the strip towards one, not moving the knife. The knife should make contact with the tough outer skin such that it creates a little tension against it's underside. This action will easily remove the skin in one long translucent piece with no trouble.
Finally, remove the white core which until now was a handle for the whole stripping motion.
Thats it! No laborous scraping or peeling. With this method, one can remove 2 meters of skin in less than an hour!
From here one can dehydrate the green layer to a crumbling powder boil into a tea or dry into a goop and shape into pellets. These pellets become so hard that they can even be worn as beads. I drilled a hole thru them and wore them on a necklace coming home from Bolivia, it was a great way to get them through customs without hassle.
J
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