indigo [was Re: [Sca-cooks] Puritans, was: Canadian Friends]

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

On Mon, 8 Oct 2001 Nambeanntan at aol.com wrote:

> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> In a message dated 10/8/2001 8:20:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com writes:
>
>
> > And I still haven't found any sources that tell me whether
> > it's safe to use inert indigo (the dyeing process involves oxidation) to
> > color one's pottage, as mentioned in the Anglo-Norman sources, or if they
> > just meant indigo-colored, ie, blue.
>
> I nearly tossed my tea at this idea.  Indigo is subjected to an oxidation
> process much as tea leaves are but with the additional step of  being soaked
> in ammonia as a mordant.  I have never come across any warnings or cautions
> about using indigo just about the urine needed for the mordant.


Well, before you get your indigo or woad vat going (with whatever
ammonia source you choose) you have inert indigo/woad, which is blue. It
won't dye fabric in this form, but if you powdered it finely enough, it
would work much like any other powdered pigment in a liquid. You can
certainly use it as paint--it's a kind of greeny-blackish-blue--so it
could very well be used as a food coloring. My wondering is a) whether
it's toxic, and b) if they really meant indigo or merely meant blue, and
if the latter, what sort of blue are we talking about?

Margaret