Syrian Rue

Peganum harmala
Active ingredients: harmala alkaloids

If there’s a more tragically overlooked high-inducing herb than Syrian Rue, we’d damn well like to hear about it!

Not only does this subtle but powerful herb have an amazing back story, a list of positive health effects as long as your arm and remarkable qualities as a high cocktail ingredient, it’s cheap, legal and basically contains exactly the same active substances as the vision-inducing ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi).

Syrian Rue is one of the most frequently used plants in folk medicine worldwide, having both magical and material, physiological qualities. It is also becoming increasingly well known among the global psychedelic community for its effects when used alone, but more often for its ability to magnify the effects of other plants and fungi when taken together.

In our High Cuisine dinners, we have used a Syrian rue dish to enhance the effects of a subsequent psilocybin-rich dish with great results, and the fact that its active ingredients are easily soluble in water earned it a place on our cocktails list too.

A low-lying shrub that produces white flowers and round seed capsules, Syrian Rue is believed to have originated in and around the mountainous regions of Iran, but today it grows in many semi-arid areas of the world from Africa through the Middle East to India, and as an invasive species in South America, Mexico, and Southern USA.

While various parts including it fruits, root, and bark have been used in folk medicine for ages, it is the bitter little black seeds that are sold in smart shops (and regular middle-eastern spice shops) that interest us.

These are rich sources of water-soluble beta-carboline alkaloids, responsible for most of its pharmacological and therapeutic effects. The most prominent of these are the harmala alkaloids harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmaline.

The alkaloid content of Syrian Rue has been shown to be psychoactive and various in vitro and in vivo studies indicate a wide range of effects on both central and peripheral nervous system, including analgesia, mild hallucination, excitation, and anti-depressant effects.

These effects are due to the beta-carbolines temporarily inhibiting the monoamine oxidase enzyme (MAO) that is responsible for the breaking down and re-uptake of monoamines like serotonin and norepinephrine that are responsible for the experience of consciousness.

Harmalas can be taken on their own in a number of different ways to facilitate mildly psychedelic, introspective, and dream-like states of mind. At high doses they are capable of inducing visionary experiences (including the sensation of floating or flying, and enhanced telepathic powers), but also nausea.

Some people report that the harmalas produce strong sensations of embracing the present moment, of truly connecting with the feeling of observing every moment unfold by itself.

While not a new or revelatory experience, it is a state of mind that can be put to use, for example in meditation and for being more ‘present’ in nature. Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo both claimed that rue's metaphysical powers improved their eyesight and creative inner vision.

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