Untitled Recipe

Ingredients

pure sulphur, cream of tartar, Sarcocolla, pitch, sodium chloride, paraffin (naphta), common oil

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The recipe from the 'Liber ignium ad comburendos hostes' (likely late 13th century) requires mixing pure sulphur, cream of tartar, Sarcocolla resin, pitch, sodium chloride, and paraffin (naphta) with common oil (p. 98). Sarcocolla is specifically identified as the resin from a Persian tree of the same name (p. 99).

Evidence

"The main formula of the Liber ignium consists of «pure sulphur, cream of tartar, Sarcocolla (the resin of a Persian tree [99] tree of the same name), pitch, sodium chloride and paraffin (naphta), besides common oil.»"

Remarks

The 'Liber ignium' contains formulas influenced by Islamic chemistry and pyrotechnics. Sarcocolla (Penaea mucronata) is a resin often used as a binder in illuminations, but here it appears as a stabilization or binding agent in an incendiary formula (p. 98). The text notes that Arabic words like 'alkitran' were often left untranslated in Latin copies of such technical manuals (p. 98).