safflower sediment

Ingredients

alkali, sweet water, safflower, lemons, incense, gum arabic

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Dissolve alkali in three times its volume of sweet water, beat by hand, then let sit covered for 1-3 days. Filter and boil the liquid until a white salt congeals (repeating if turbid). Macerate cleaned safflower in water for one night, then wash repeatedly in a woolen cloth until only the pure coloring remains. Mix the safflower with the prepared alkali salt in a granite recipient. Apply to a reed basket and rub by hand while adding clear water until the dye is fully extracted. Add lemon juice (10 lemons per ratl of safflower) and let stand overnight. Place a grain of incense, then draw off the water. Drip the sediment through a woolen cloth and blend with finely ground gum arabic curls (p. 58).

Evidence

"The way of preparing it is that you take good alkali, crush it finely, macerate it in three times its quantity of sweet water; beat it with the hand until the alkali dissolves in the water; then leave it and cover it for one day, two, or three; filter it, continue the purification, boil it on a fire of burning coals; let it burn on this until a white salt congeals"

Remarks

The preparation involves a complex series of macerations and purifications to isolate the red/yellow dye from the safflower. The final product is spattered on Persian cane or peelings to dry before storage (p. 58).