ḥibr

Ingredients

gall nuts, good gum, water

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

It takes two and a half dirham of good gall nuts and the same amount of good gum. They are pulverized in a mortar. Twenty-five dirham of water are poured on it and it is rubbed until it is good and pure, God willing. (p. 134).

Evidence

"When I replicated this recipe, the colour of the ink was pale yellow and the writing on the paper almost invisible. According to Schopen, a similar recipe (that he does not translate) was used to write on parchment under the Zirid rule in Qayrawān (Tunisia)."

Remarks

The replication of Abū Ṭāhir's recipe resulted in an ink that was pale yellow on paper and light yellow-brown on parchment. The author argues that this recipe, found in the treatise Tanwīr al-ġayāhib, is likely a combination of recipes from different sources and represents an incomplete iron gall recipe where the vitriol ingredient was omitted during textual transmission. (p. 134-135).