Acacia Gum Resin

For thousands of years, indigenous Africans, Australians and Indians have relied on the Acacia plant as a source of medicinal agents, to stimulate psychic powers. The resin, bark and flowers were used in smoke treatments for retaining the sensations of other medicines for a longer time. In Africa the Masai use a decoction made of the gum resin as a nerve stimulant. In ancient Egypt, Egyptian Nubians believed that the gum could be used medicinally for its mind soothing properties. Even today the gum is used as a mild stimulant and to impede quick absorption of alcohol or tobacco by the body. Acacia decocotions significantly increase the sedating effects of other herbs without reacting with them. To prepare gum: combine one part by weight of acacia gum with three parts by volume of distilled water. Place into a tightly- closed bottle, shake occasionally, allow to dissolve, and keep refrigerated. Combine this liquid with wines, or smoking blends for a pleasant experience.The gum harvest from the various species lasts about five weeks. About the middle of November, after the rainy season, it exudes spontaneously from the trunk and principal branches, but the flow is generally stimulated by incisions in the bark, a thin strip, 2 to 3 feet in length and 1 to 3 inches wide being torn off. In about fifteen days it thickens in the furrow down which it runs, hardening on exposure to the air, usually in the form of round or oval tears, about the size of a pigeon's egg, but sometimes in vermicular forms, white or red, according to whether the species is a white or red gum tree. About the middle of December, the Moors commence the harvesting. The masses of gum are collected, either while adhering to the bark, or after it falls to the ground, the entire product, often of various species, thus collected, is packed in baskets and very large sacks of tanned leather and brought on camels and bullocks to the centres of accumulation and then to the points of export, chiefly Suakin, Alexandria, or - in Senegambia - St. Louis. It is then known as 'Acacia sorts,' the term being equivalent to 'unassorted Acacia.' The unsorted gums show the widest variation as to size of fragments, whiteness, clearness, freedom from adhering matter, etc. It is next sorted or 'picked' in accordance with these differences.

 

Product Code: ABT-1OZ

$4.99

Acacia Gum Resin