dark red anemone

Ingredients

dark red anemone, Syrian or Maghribi bottle, manure (sirqīn or sirfīn), powdered gum arabic

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Take the desired amount of dark red anemone and place it in a thin Syrian or Maghribi bottle (p. 128). Bury the bottle in humid manure, which is referred to by various names such as 'sirqīn', 'sirfīn', 'the bowels of the horse', 'the nature useful to the nature', or 'the unstable fire' (p. 128). The wet manure must be substituted every three days (p. 128). Once the contents have completely melted into liquid, it can be used for writing (p. 129). Adding the proper amount of powdered gum arabic makes the ink brilliant, beautiful, and shiny (p. 129).

Evidence

"it doesn’t fade from the parchment and its traces don’t disappear from the paper. You will discover that it is a beautiful and marvellous dye for the hair that lasts for a long time."

Remarks

The author al-Marrākušī provides extensive synonyms for the manure used in the fermentation process, emphasizing the professional technical jargon (adab) of the period (p. 128). He claims that even if papyrus written with this ink is submerged in water for days, the text will not be cleared out (p. 129).