[Sca-cooks] Re: dissolved pearls

[Kirsten Houseknecht]

i am willing to try it, there are always a few pearls that have bad drill
holes, or break, or something.
but what is "oil of tarter"? if anyone can get me plain english
translations, i will give it a whirl.
Kirsten Houseknecht
Fabric Dragon
kirsten at fabricdragon.com
www.fabricdragon.com
Philadelphia, PA     USA
Trims, Amber, Jet, Jewelry, and more...

I worry about you, wear a reflective sweater...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stefan li Rous" <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
To: "SCA-Cooks SCA-Cooks maillist" <SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 12:33 AM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: dissolved pearls


> Lucrezia replied to me with:
> > [doffs cook's hat, dons jeweller's hat] Sorry to disillusion you but
> > this is
> > indeed a myth. Pearls are made of calcium carbonate. Their structure is
> > actually like that of an onion - <snip>
> > The vinegar/acid actually required to 'instantly'
> > dissolve a pearl would also dissolve your internal organs, and anything
> > weak
> > (and palatable!) enough for you to drink would take some length of time
> > to
> > dissolve a pearl - say years. The Cleopatra story, entertaining though
> > it is
> > (it comes direct from Pliny's 'Natural History' Book 37, where he
> > claimed
> > the pearl Cleopatra dropped into her drink and supposedly 'dissolved'
> > was
> > worth 10 million sesterces - a large fortune in those days),
> Well, the directions I was referring to were later than Cleopatra and
> from one comment, might have been for cosmetic use rather than to be
> used internally. But it does look like the pearls were disolved and
> that it might not take that long. Anyone got some pearls to experiment
> with? :-)
>
>  From the file:
> > I've been reading through my newly-acquired copies of "A Queen's
> > Delight"
> > and came across the following "recipe":
> >
> > To make a true Majistery of Pearl.
> > Dissolve two or three ounces of fine seed Pearl in distilled Vinegar, &
> > when it is perfectly dissolved, and all taken up, pour the Vinegar
> > into a
> > clean glass bason; then drop some few drops of Oyl of Tartar upon it,
> > & it
> > will cast down the Pearl into fine Powder, then pour the Vinegar clean
> > off
> > softly, then put to the Pearl clear Conduit or Spring water, pour that
> > off,
> > and do so often untill the taste of the Vinegar and Tartar be clean
> > gone,
> > then dry the powder of Pearl upon warm embers, and keep it for your
> > use.
> >
> > This is toward the back of the book, in a section entitled "Choice
> > Secrets
> > made known", not in the food sections.
>
> > The only part of this problem that I can address is how the vinegar
> > dissolves the powdered pearls--pearls are calcium carbonate, and like
> > limestone and calcite, and a lot of other minerals that contain
> > calcium,
> > and like bones, they will dissolve in fairly weak acids.  The weaker
> > the
> > acid, the longer they take to dissolve--so grinding them up helps the
> > process of dissolution.
> >                                            Theo
>
> > >>- What exactly is a Majistery? What was the pearl dust used for?
> > >I don't know what Majistery is, but if I had to guess, I would say
> > this is
> > >some kind of cosmetic.
> >
> > Hmmm... this sounds like what the ladies and gents used back then for
> > a face
> > powder to effect that pale white pasty look..... I may be way off base
> > here,
> > and will have to do a bit a looking, but  I have a feeling that is
> > what it
> > is.
> > <------------------------------------------------------------>
> > <  mystarwin - Moira Breabadair - Cindy Mays >
> Stefan
> --------
> THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
>     Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas
> StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
>
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