الطلق

Ingredients

عسل النحل, الطلق, القلقنت, الصمغ العربي

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Dirham (Silver/Metallic) Ink (p. 107): Mix one part honey, one part talc (talq), and one part vitriol (qalqant). Grind these together and place the mixture into a cucurbit and alembic (qar'a wa inbiq). Distill the mixture. Collect the distillate in a vessel and expose it to the sun for twenty days. Every day, grind a portion of it (one dirham weight) with gum Arabic until the gum dissolves completely into the mixture.

Evidence

"يؤخذ جزء من عسل النحل وجزء من الطلق وجزء من القلقنت . يُسحق القلقنت والطلق والعسل ويجعل في قرعة وإنبيق ويصعد ، ثم يؤخذ ما صعد منه في إناء ويوضع في الشمس عشرين يوما"

Remarks

The distillation process described indicates a method for creating a metallic-looking ink or a refined vehicle for talc-based pigments (p. 107). The solar exposure is likely for evaporation or maturing the chemical mixture.