How Boiled Water May Be Made Palatable
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the water
Take exactly 2 gallons of water.
If the water is not clear, beat up the white of 1 egg and add to the water before boiling.
Allow the egg white to gather foreign matter to the bottom of the vessel.
Bring the water to a brisk boil.
Set aside to cool and settle.
Pour off the clear water.
Add the minerals
Stir in a level teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.
Stir in a teaspoon of hydrochloric acid.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Egg white
- Binds suspended particles so they gather at the bottom and can be left behind.
- Bicarbonate of soda (in the method)
- Raises the water's alkalinity, neutralising the acid added afterwards.
- Hydrochloric acid (in the method)
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the alkaline bicarbonate of soda.
The step that matters
Pour off the clear water. Once the egg white and foreign matter have settled, pouring carefully keeps the sediment on the bottom. Stirring or jostling the vessel would re-suspend the particles, making the water cloudy again.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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