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Drink

Lime Water

A clear liquid made by steeping a lime in hot water for 24 hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Lime Water

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place the lime in a large stone jar or unpainted pail.

  2. Slowly pour the hot water over the lime, stirring thoroughly.

  3. Let the mixture settle, then stir again two or three times over the next 24 hours.

  4. Carefully bottle the clear liquid that can be poured off.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Fresh unslacked lime
Reacts with the water to form calcium hydroxide, which dissolves to make the clear liquid.
Hot water
Slakes the lime and dissolves the calcium hydroxide, carrying it into solution.

The step that matters

Bottling only the clear liquid. Lime is only partly soluble, so undissolved particles settle to the bottom. Pouring off only the clear top layer keeps the liquid clear and avoids sediment.

“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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