[Sca-cooks] Water Purity was: Mustards

[Bill Fisher]

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 13:15:31 -0500, kingstaste at mindspring.com
<kingstaste at mindspring.com> wrote:
> I would add that there are other indications that water purity was
> considered, at least on a medical level.  There are illustrations* that show
> doctors examining a patient's urine in a vessel called an orinel.  It's a
> clear glass, rounded bottle with a lipped mouth.  Color and clarity were
> checked as well as smell and taste for diagnosis purposes.  It wouldn't be
> much of a stretch to think that they would also check such standards in
> drinking water sources, at least in some enlightened areas and times.  Not
> that you would find microbes that way, but you can see a lot if you're
> looking for it.
> Christianna
> *citations coming, sources not currently available ;)

I knew I had  read at least one reference to someone boiling water
and letting it settle out overnight to clean it up.

It's not exactly period but, Digby does mention it in his mead recipes.

" Boil what quantity of Spring-water you please, three or four walms,
and then let it settle twenty four hours, and pour the clear from the
settling. "

The rest of the recipe is at:
http://realbeer.com/spencer/Digby-recipes/recipe-94-09-10.html


I also know Platina makes mention of water borne sickness his section
on choosing a place to live in the first section of his On Right Pleasure...
(That's it! I am ordering a new one!) and that you should live away from the
water depends on how the wind blew at that location (or so my brain thinks).

Water quality was a concern, and I think they figured out that bad water meant
sickness pretty early on.  They may have been misguided on the mechanism, but
I think they got the cause and effect thing down.

Does anyone have any documentation on selection of drinking water?

Cadoc
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