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Youblob · CC0
Nigari: the Bitter Liquor Left When Sea Salt Crystallises
Boil seawater down and common salt crystallises first; what stays behind is a bitter liquor, mostly magnesium chloride. Salt makers called it bittern and kept it out of the salt, Andrew Ure (1839) notes, because it spoils it. In Japan it is nigari, from the word for bitter, and it is what sets soy milk into tofu.
Beginner
A day of boiling
Instructions
1
1
Boil the seawater down
Boil the seawater down
Boil clean seawater in an iron kettle over a wood fire, topping it up, until salt crystals start to form on the surface and fall.
Materials for this step:
Seawater20 liters
Firewood1 as requiredTools needed:
Iron Kettle
Fire Pit2
2
Rake out the salt
Rake out the salt
Keep it simmering and scoop the salt out as it crystallises into a draining basket over a bowl. Stop before the pan runs dry: the last liquor is the bittern.
Tools needed:
Wooden Spoon
Draining Baskets
BowlIron Kettle3
3
Collect the drips
Collect the drips
Let the salt drain for a day or two. Pour what drips into the bowl together with the liquor left in the kettle: that is nigari.
Tools needed:
Draining BasketsBowl4
4
Bottle it
Bottle it
Keep the liquid nigari in a stoppered bottle. It is very bitter; it is a coagulant, not a seasoning.
Tools needed:
Glass Bottles with StoppersThis blueprint makes
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