Old Ig Recipes

[El Gordo]

Actually I was looking for the composition of IG inks used in administration. Pretty easy to find thanks to this forum for standard inks for the US, India, and many more. But I was looking for info on my local area (Belgium) and didn't come any nearer than France and Luxemburg, and a statement that registers should be written with indelible ink (composition to be defined by the king, still looking for it). Anyhow, what I would like to share is something "discovered" during this search. I found a reference to the archive of a notary office containing an ink recipe. The people from the Tongeren city archive were kind enough to share an image of this entry. It contained three recipes actually, or at least three notes. Here they go, sorry for the language, it is in 1774 Flemish (I leave it for now to discover):

Recept om inck te maecken

Neempt ½ pont swaerte gal nooten breekt

die in 3 oft 4 stücken

¼ ponts Gomme van arabien

3 oncen cooperroose doet die in eenen pot

ende giet daer in claer warm regen waeter

Recept om inck te maeken

¼ ponts galnooten

¼ ponts gomme

¼ ponts blauwhout

½ pont cooper roos

1 pont regenwater

1 pint asijn

Hoc 31 (octbris) 1774

Maniere om inck te maecken

Nempt een halff pont swaerte gal nooten breekt

die in drij offt vier stücken, gomme van arabien een vierden

deel, cooperroose 3 oncen doet die in eenen pot

ende giet daer in claer warm regen waeter

Enjoy puzzling ...

PS it had a recipe (or at least a (partial) ingredients list) for waffles, Belgian waffles from 1774 (well strictly spoken impossible, but OK)

Edited August 22, 2015 by El Gordo

[OCArt]

Hmm. This has stumped Google translate. Can you put it into English for us mono linguistic Americans please?

[dcwaites]

You mean Google Translate doesn't know 18th century Flemish? Fie upon Google!

However I can see oak galls, copperas, gum arabic so they are traditional oak gall IG formulae.

Only for dip pens.

[El Gordo]

Hmm. This has stumped Google translate. Can you put it into English for us mono linguistic Americans please?

Hilarious, did not consider throwing it through Google translate, don't worry nothing to do with being mono linguistic.

Thought the fun part would be in discovering the meaning/resemblance

This is what Google makes out of it (last recipe) indeed:

 

Original

Maniere om inck te maecken

Nempt een halff pont swaerte gal nooten breekt

die in drij offt vier stücken, gomme van arabien een vierden

deel, cooperroose 3 oncen doet die in eenen pot

ende giet daer in claer warm regen waeter

Google

Maniere to maecken inck

Nempt Halff a ferry breaks swaerte gall nut

in Drij offt four Stücken , gomme of a celebrated arabien

part , cooper roose 3 ounces doing in Eenen pot

daer income pour in claer warm rain Waeter

 

Maniere to maecken inck

- same as in English apparently ... (way (manner) to make ink)

Nempt een halff pont swaerte gal nooten breekt die in drij offt vier stücken,

 

- take half a ferry gall nuts ... (take half a pound (oh no not in this thread , yes we used the pound in 1774, still have to confirm it from other literature but would be something between 462 and 497g depending on the city / area and time, does not matter really as proportions count), So: take half a pound of black gall nuts. Not specified to be oak galls, but could be assumed to be I guess. I wonder why black gall nuts are specified, could it be that they are harvested before the insect left (apparently giving a blueish/black colour and having higher tannin content at that stage?? ) .. and break them in three or four pieces (stucken with umlaut as in german, we have lost the umlaut somewhere in between then and now)

 

gomme van arabien een vierden deel,

- gomme of a celebrated arabien (?) , one fourth part of Arabic gum (assuming a whole part referring to the amount of gall nuts ?)

cooperroose 3 oncen doet die in eenen pot

- 3 ounces (1/16 pound as usual) cooperroose (we have lost this word it think, seems reasonable to think of it as copperas, put in a pot

 

ende giet daer in claer warm regen waeter

and pour clear warm rain water

No indication about the volume of water (maybe they got a pot of a given size for making ink?) and rest of the process.

[Noihvo]

 

Recept om inck te maeken

¼ ponts galnooten

¼ ponts gomme

¼ ponts blauwhout

½ pont cooper roos

1 pont regenwater

1 pint asijn

Hoc 31 (octbris) 1774

 

Umm, I could of course be mistaken, but could "regenwater" not be King's Water, aka Aqua Regia, aka nitro-hydrochloric acid? Horrendously corrosive. That's is nothing you should be playing around with… Not that I assume the esteemed hobby-chemists around this forum would play around in the serious matter of ink-making, but still. A word of caution, brought out when my heart skipped a beat.

[El Gordo]

 

Umm, I could of course be mistaken, but could "regenwater" not be King's Water, aka Aqua Regia, aka nitro-hydrochloric acid? Horrendously corrosive. That's is nothing you should be playing around with… Not that I assume the esteemed hobby-chemists around this forum would play around in the serious matter of ink-making, but still. A word of caution, brought out when my heart skipped a beat.

Don't worry, I am a "real" chemist, regenwater / regenwaeter is rain water (as it should be more pure than well or river water, regarding eg minerals). But you are right to warn about the stuff and potential misinterpretation.

[El Gordo]

 

OK here are the other ones:

 

Recept om inck te maecken

Neempt ½ pont swaerte gal nooten breekt

die in 3 oft 4 stücken

¼ ponts Gomme van arabien

3 oncen cooperroose doet die in eenen pot

ende giet daer in claer warm regen waeter

 

Essentially the same as the previous one

Recipe for making ink

Take half a pound black gall nuts, break in three or four pieces, a quarter pound arabic gum, three ounce copperas, put in a container and pour clear warm rain water on it.

 

Again black oak galls, break, don't grind.

 

The last one is somewhat different, different ingredients, different ratios:

 

Recept om inck te maeken

¼ ponts galnooten (quarter pound gall nuts)

¼ ponts gomme (quarter pound Arabic gum)

¼ ponts blauwhout (quarter pound blue wood / Campeche)

½ pont cooper roos (half pound copperas)

1 pont regenwater (one pound rain water)

1 pint asijn (one pint vinegar)

Hoc 31 (octbris) 1774 (this day 31 October (likely) 1774)

 

Way more copperas and arabic gum than the other ones

[OCArt]

Thanks indeed for the translations. Now can we have the recipe for Belgium waffles

[El Gordo]

Sure, an ingredients list again:

 

Recept om waffelen te maecken (recipe for making waffles)
Op een pont terwemeel moet men neemen (to one pound of wheat flower, one has to take)
1/2 pont boter (half pound butter)
8 eijeren waer van vier moeten het wit uijtgedaen worden (8 eggs, of which of four you need to remove the white,
so white of 4 eggs and 8 yolks)
1/4 pont suijcker (quarter pound sugar)
[unreadable] caneel (some unreadable amount of cinnamon, suppose to taste)

 

That is all that is mentioned, guess the rest is mixing and battering, putting it on some waffle iron.

I do not want to be held responsible for your cholesterol level

Edited August 23, 2015 by El Gordo

[OCArt]

Sounds as good as Alton Brown's !