Does the solution from a poppy seed tea wash break down?

[Jesusgreen]

I wanted to know if it's possible to wash my seeds and then pour the solution into a water bottle for later use?

Me and a friend are pitching in on a larger amount of poppy seeds and we'd like to wash it all in one go, but I don't plan to take any then so I'd like to bottle it up for later use. Is that going to work or will it break down and quickly become weaker? I want to store it for around a 1-2 weeks before use.

Am I just going to have to save mine and wash it up later, or will that be fine?

Thanks!

 

[Swimmingdancer]

I don't think it would degrade in 1-2 weeks, but I wouldn't want to store it any longer than that as it might start going bad by growing bacteria or fungus etc. Morphine stored in water is fine for about 3 months, codeine is harder to find the data on but I assume it's around the same, so I think poppy seed tea should be ok degradation-wise for a week or 2. Opium latex does contain at least 40 different alkaloids, but most of them are of very low concentration - I don't have any info on what happens to the other alkaloids when stored in water but I do know of people storing their poppy tea and saying it was fine. You'd want to store it in the fridge in a glass container. I personally wouldn't be too concerned about it going bad as when taking something orally the human body can stand a fair amount of fungus/bacteria, but I think that would be your limiting factor more than potential degradation. Of course it would probably be ideal to just wash the seeds before use, and then you can do a re-wash on the seeds as well.

 

[Tripman]

You have to remember that you are going to have some plant matter in there. I'd be worried about bacteria more than degradation. That is going to taste pretty funky after a week or two.

 

[RobotRipping]

you cannot store it for that long, it will definitely get moldy, not to mention the smell and the taste would be awful. Maybe evaporate the water and store the resulting goo in gel caps. I really don't like to touch poppy seed water after 12 hours.

 

[Tripman]

you cannot store it for that long, it will definitely get moldy, not to mention the smell and the taste would be awful. Maybe evaporate the water and store the resulting goo in gel caps. I really don't like to touch poppy seed water after 12 hours.

QFT. Speaking from experience - it will go mouldy pretty quick.

 

[Jesusgreen]

Okay, thanks for the advice everyone. Would adding some ethanol to the solution prevent the growth of mold for long enough for me to keep it those 1-2 weeks?

 

[Swimmingdancer]

I don't know, the FDA says 10% ethanol, propylene glycol or glycerol is needed for things which "don't require complete sterility but must not be contaminated with microorganisms which may be pathogenic, and require a low density of non-pathogenic microorganisms". But 10% seems like a LOT of alcohol to put in one's poppy seed tea. For 1 to 2 weeks you could probably get away with less, but I have no idea how to determine what an appropriate amount of alcohol would be. The mold/bacteria growth after 1-2 weeks is not very likely to harm you, but it could make you nauseous.

 

[Jesusgreen]

Well at the very least I'll try to cut that down to 1 week max. 2-7 days rather than 1-2 weeks.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Foreigner]

You could add ethanol but then you'd have to take the weak opium brew with alcohol in it, unless you want to go through the trouble of heating it off. If you have ethanol then you should just do an alcohol extraction. Put the seeds in pure ethanol (2:1 alcohol:seeds) and shake it daily for one month. Then strain and dilute with distilled water (at least 50%, but no less than 20% or the plant matter will start to rot). Alcohol extractions stay good for up to 10 years. If you evapourate the alcohol (carefully not to have any sparks or flames nearby), you can make a concentrated seed extract.

I recommend grinding the seeds into powder with a coffee grinder before putting it in the alcohol. It'll increase the surface area and break all the seed shells in advance.

Your current method... because it's a poppy seed wash you are dealing with a water-based plant extract. You won't just be dealing with opiate but also other constituents in the plant that will rapidly break down after their release.

Seed capsules strongly preserve the contents but once the capsule is degraded the contents oxidize and rot rapidly. Most plant decoctions I cook, I consume within 24 hours because potency degrades fast thereafter, and yes mold/bacteria is also a problem.

 

[teological]

I used to use the same bottle that I drank the seed extract from, and usually the smell after a couple of days or so, god damn.....

Codeine also starts to get moldy lines going accross it if left for about a week...so judging from my experiences, I would think that in even a week, the extract would smell like rotten egg, let alone be drinkable.