Coca powder: benefits and uses

COCA POWDER or COCA TEA POWDER

Coca powder is the most often prepared flour that is also the most well-known. It is made from powder made from leaves, but it can also be made with residual products, that can be used as food for animals and even humans when a lot of fiber needs to be taken. According to the Larousse Dictionary (1995), the word FLOUR comes from the feminine Latin word farina, which defines “seed reduced to powder” (corn flour, wheat flour de wheat, cassava flour). According to the Rances Dictionary (Sopena 1882) flour means: “Dust proceeding from ground grains, wheat, vegetables, etc.” The difference between other grinds is that the grains are not reduced to powder, such as the ground leaves that are packaged in filters for mate de coca. Thus coca powder is the powder proceeding from the grinding of coca leaves, especially through a ball mill, at room temperature or a little higher due to the mechanical grinding process, resulting in a pure substance with a powdery consistence (micropulverized coca leaves). It conserves all the chemical and nutritional elements of natural coca leaves, in accordance with the information provided by Dr. Silveria Dongo, Chemist at ENACO.

Coca powder: Origin

The coca plant is mostly known for its leaves, used for the traditional chacchado or chewing or in infusions. In recent years, the industry of the coca plant based on the grinding of its leaves has grown. Coca powder of flour is the result of the grinding of the leaves and other parts of the coca plant. Although no historical references about the preparation or the use of coca powder have been found, it is a well-known fact that products with cocaine can be used with the leaves (natural cocainized coca) and others without cocaine (decocainized or de-alcaloinized). The first group of products is made for industry and trade in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, and countries that don’t subscribe to The Single Convention of 1961 (such as South Africa that has recently imported coca products from ENACO), without any restrictions, except for the restriction of cocaine (alkaloid) for cocaine preparation (base, crack, hydrochloride or cocaine sulfates). These have to be regulated and are prohibited in industry and trade, except for specific investigations and medical use. Dozens of cocainized products for exclusive dermic and oral use can appear on the national market at a swift pace. In order to be adequate, the coca based industry has to know the chemical composition of the leaves in the region where they are used; which implies a good knowledge of the nutrients, oils and percentage of alkaloids (especially cocaine) they contain. The coca varieties with the highest amount of coca can be found in Cuzco and Huánuco in Peru and Chapare and Yungas in Bolivia (Erythroxylum novogranatense with 0.6% to 1% cocaine).

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