soot (hibāb), ink (ḥibr)

Ingredients

hot old oil, asphalt, gum arabic, frankincense, vinegar, unripened and sour grapes, myrtle juice, rose water

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The preparation involves collecting soot from either hot old oil or asphalt burned in a lantern covered by a vessel (one span large, one arm high). Grease must be eliminated by pounding the collected soot into a paste and burning it in an oven. Once cooled, it is roasted in a copper bowl until the oil smell vanishes (p. 334). The soot is then crushed in a stone mortar, mixed with a bit of gum arabic, compacted, and dried in the shade. Separately, a solution of gum arabic is prepared by mixing one part gum with three parts fresh water, sealed in a glass vessel, and hung in the sun for an entire day (p. 335). For improvement, frankincense powder in a cloth may be added for perfume, and vinegar or juices (sour grapes, myrtle) are used to enhance the color (p. 335).

Evidence

"As for the preparation of the soot (hibāb), the best type is the hot soot of oil, or, alternatively the soot of asphalt."

Remarks

The text warns that water coagulates the ink and the juice of tamarind spoils it, making the pen unable to 'catch anything' (p. 335, 336). Blackness can be increased by adding dried soot/gum pieces directly into the inkwell (p. 335). The document highlights a didactic structure where the final element of one sentence starts the next (p. 334).