40 degrees next weekend, mid July ?

[Stan]

Cheap and cheerful protection on a neighbour’s kitchen sink window, facing south.

[AE-NMidlands]

My gran always kept salt tablets in her bag in summer, she reckoned they stopped her getting cramp. I think this used to be a common thing, years ago, something that probably got discredited by the salt police when the link was made between high BP and sodium intake.

I'm partial to tonic water, though. I've been making my own for a while now, very easy to make a concentrated tonic syrup, takes about half an hour to make half a litre of syrup. When mixed with carbonated water half a litre of syrup makes about two litres of tonic water. Best thing is that I know it doesn't contain any added stuff, it's just cinchona bark, sugar, water and citric acid.

I like the idea of that tonic syrup, will give it a go when I see the bark again.

RE salt, apparently there are now as many research papers saying no problem as there are saying it's a health risk. Expect a (very quiet) retreat by the health police, as they have over animal fat. Now they say "eat a balanced diet" because they have had to admit that cutting out animal fat is an own goal. Trouble is that they can't admit they were wrong, so the change of advice won't be publicised and lots of journalists, broadcasters & even GPs etc will go on giving out the wrong advice.

[Oldgreybeard]

I think the excessive salt, or rather sodium, in diet thing did have some benefit, as there was a lot of salt and MSG in processed foods, far more than people would ingest just by sprinkling a bit of salt on their dinner. I have a suspicion that MSG may have been as much to blame as salt, as there was loads of that in the most unlikely foods. Since people have become more aware there does seem to be less of the stuff being used.

I went right off processed food years ago, after watching a programme about "mechanical meat recovery" where scraps of flesh were removed from butchered carcasses with pressure washers, to produce a revolting pink goo that was then used to make burgers and sausages. We're close to being veggie now, anyway, really just because neither of us like meat much any more. We probably only have one or two meals with meat in a week, if that.

If you want to try home brew tonic syrup, then the recipe I use is:

40g chopped cinchona bark pieces (not the powered stuff - that's much harder to filter)
360ml of cold water
220g of caster sugar
6.5g of citric acid

Put the bark and water in a pan, bring to the boil, then let it simmer for fifteen minutes or so. Filter the liquid (to remove the bark pieces) into another pan or jug and add the sugar and citric acid. Stir well to dissolve the sugar then decant into a bottle and leave to cool.

Couldn't be easier really.

[Bugtownboy]

That’s good OGB, Thankyou.

What’s the approximate ratio of syrup to soda water ? I know it will vary based on personal taste.

[Fintray]

BTB

When mixed with carbonated water half a litre of syrup makes about two litres of tonic water. Best thing is that I know it doesn't contain any added stuff, it's just cinchona bark, sugar, water and citric acid.

[Bugtownboy]

Doh ! Thanks Fintray - teach me to read the thread

[Oldgreybeard]

The only note of caution I'd add is that there are no preservatives in this syrup so it is probably best kept in the fridge and not stored for too long. One advantage of it being concentrated is that it takes up less room in there. You might want to add some flavour, too, depends what you're mixing it with. On its own it really needs a squeeze of lemon or orange, but if adding it to gin then I think it's best left as it is, especially if using a gin flavoured with botanicals.

[AE-NMidlands]

OGB
Looking for a seller I found https://www.cocktailsafe.org/quinine-to ... -bark.html which includes

Cinchona bark is available for sale in solid pieces or in a fine powder. (Purified quinine is typically not available to consumers and only sold to licensed beverage producers.) The powdered form of the bark is challenging to filter out of syrups after the flavor has been extracted, leaving more quinine in the finished product than with larger bark pieces. If the goal is to reduce the amount of cinchona alkaloids that make it into the final syrup, bark pieces would be a better choice than powdered cinchona.

so they agree about the powder! I will look out for it. Thanks for the recipe.
A

[Oldgreybeard]

My first attempt was with the powder, it sort of works if you use a coffee filter but even then some of the finer stuff gets through. As that article mentions, it also tends to make for a stronger syrup and I've found I prefer the version with the pieces of bark.

I can also vouch for the nasty side effects from high doses of quinine. I caught malaria in Sudan, a day before flying home, so fell ill the first night back, with a high fever and all the usual malaria symptoms. I'd been taking the pills every day, but it turned out they were for the type of malaria found in Egypt (where I'd also been). I was admitted to an isolation unit at West Cornwall Hospital, as they didn't know what sort of tropical disease I'd got at first, so were concerned I might be infectious. I remember the doctor who gave me the diagnosis, as he came to see me without wearing a space suit. He was from the Indian sub-continent and was grinning from ear to ear as he said "I know EXACTLY what you have! I did not expect to see that here!" then revealed that my blood test had showed the presence of malarial parasites and that he was him that had spotted them when other tests came back negative.

The treatment was high doses of quinine, in tablet form. Had to take them for about a month. The side effects were grim, blinding headaches and constant ringing in my ears. As soon as my blood tests showed I was clear I could stop taking the pills, and after a week or so the side effects wore off.

[Joeboy]

I worked for years in Saudi Arabia. Barroca orange effervescent tabs and Japs health salts or similar and about 4.5 ltrs of water per day. Monitor piss colour and if its not clear to a very light yellow drink plenty water.