sympathetic inks

Ingredients

blood, milk, juice of the flax stem, yoghurt, sal ammoniac, white alum

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Inks made of blood, milk, or flax stem juice. Ibn Badis describes versions made of yoghurt, sal ammoniac, milk, and white alum (p. 28).

Evidence

"Sometimes, writing was done with blood, milk, or the juice of the flax stem. The latter two were considered to be sympathetic inks. Sympathetic inks such as these, mulberry juice, and red must were not prefered by religious people."

Remarks

To make such inks visible for reading, scholars used ashes of paper, gallnut solution, boxthorn, or heat (p. 28). These were generally discouraged for sacred use by religious authorities (p. 28).