brazilwood

Ingredients

akshũt, brazilwood, saffron water, ground sugar

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

To commit fraud in saffron production, some perfumers cut akshũt (an unknown ingredient) to resemble saffron stigmas and cook it with cooked brazilwood. They then add a substance dyed with saffron water and sprinkle ground sugar to add weight and facilitate coagulation before mixing it with genuine saffron (p. 116).

Evidence

"one must ban dyers who dye ... sky blue with brazilwood because it is a fraud, as these colours immediately disappear"

Remarks

Brazilwood was used in fraudulent dyeing practices. Ibn ʿAbdũn, the twelfth-century muḥtasib of Seville, banned dyers from using it for green or sky blue as the resulting colours were prone to rapid fading (p. 116).