A storm in a tea cup: a how-to on rain water

Here at Cauldron, we have been taking advantage of all the lovely late-Winter rain by collecting and preparing some rain water for later use.

If you are going to consume rain water in any way, you must collect it in a safe manner, and you must sterilize it. The CDC advises boiling any suspicious water to remove pathogens. If you are concerned about environmental pollution in your rain, do some research, and use rainwater sparingly in recipes-- a few drops go a long way if they are used with intention.


Rainwater for Kitchen-Witchery

Ingredients: 

• 1 clean glass jar or bowl
• 1 mesh screen (optional-- I use a mesh colander/strainer and it works just fine)
• paper coffee filters
• a funnel
• heat resistant glass storage jars
• salt (optional, see below)

Directions:

1. On a day of a good heavy rain, set out a clean glass jar or bowl with a clean mesh screen over the lid.

2. Remove it within 8 hours-- if it stops raining, remove it then. You want to avoid collecting contaminants and debris as much as possible.

3. Line a funnel with a paper coffee filter and slowly strain your rainwater into a clean container. You can strain it twice or even thrice if you want to be sure it is extra clean.

4. Pour the strained water into a tea kettle or pan, and bring to a hard rolling boil-- let it boil for at least 1 minute, 3 minutes if you are above 6,000 feet altitude. Pour into heat-resistant glass storage jars, seal, and store in a cool dark place or in the fridge. I like to put a teaspoon of salt in the water in some jars as a natural preservative-- of course you don't want to use salted water in some recipes, so make sure you label your jars if you are salting your rain water.

That's it! Use your imagination for recipes and work with rain water. And please share yours in the comments below!

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