midād

Ingredients

gall nuts, fresh water, gum, vitriol

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The recipe involves grinding one ounce and a quarter of gall nuts in a mortar. One ratl of fresh water is poured over them, and they are left to rest for one night and one day. In the functional Rabat version, a half ounce of vitriol is ground and the macerated gall nuts are poured onto it until covered, resting for another day and night until the water turns red (or black if vitriol is added correctly according to chemical behavior). The gall nuts are then cooked on a low fire until a third of the liquid evaporates. After sieving through a cloth, gum is added while stirring, with more vitriol added at the end to satisfy the desired tone (p. 137-138).

Evidence

"adding vitriol to the gall nuts will result in a black solution and not a red one, as stated in the recipe, even if it is left for one day and one night (Fig. 7.1 A and A2)."

Remarks

The research highlights how replication reveals scribe errors. In MS Paris BnF Arabe 6844, 'gum' is mistakenly written twice, omitting 'vitriol' (p. 137). Replication demonstrated that adding gum to macerating gall nuts results in a red-brown solution (tannin extraction), whereas adding vitriol immediately creates a black ferro-gallate complex (p. 138).