ḥibr

Ingredients

sumac fruits, water, gum arabic, vitriol

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

One raṭl of sumac is cooked in six raṭl of water and, after the residue has been pounded and the solution filtered, five ounces of gum arabic are added to the solution. Once the gum dissolved, the vitriol is added. (p. 140). During the replication, 30 g of sumac was boiled in 180 g of water, strained through gauze, mixed with 12 g of gum arabic, and finally darkened with vitriol (p. 140).

Evidence

"I put 30 g of sumac spice in 180 g of water and heated it until it reached boiling point... I then added the vitriol and the liquid blackened immediately. After 6 g, the solution was very dark with some nuances of red-violet."

Remarks

The test proves that sumac fruits can yield a black ink when reacted with vitriol. The author notes that historical compilers like ibn Bādīs and al-Malik al-Muẓaffar mistakenly placed this recipe among colored inks, likely because sumac is also a source of red dye and they did not test the recipe themselves (p. 141).