If you love a good vintage recipe, you know how critical quality ingredients are for replicating it properly and making the recipe taste good. Historic recipes use ingredients that were often previously purer, free from additives, GMOs, or other quality-altering modern factors.
One of the biggest changes we’ve experienced in the 21st century is the change in our water. While running water became widely available to most of the UK in the early 1900s, our modernised water has since been pumped with chemicals like chlorine, pesticides, and fluoride to disinfect it for public use.
This, unfortunately, has a larger impact than we realise and can totally change the taste of a dish from its original form. Consider these three ways quality water filtering systems can improve the taste of old-school recipes.
Free from additives
Using a quality water filter removes plenty of harmful bacteria and excessive chemicals that are often found in our drinking water.
By filtering this water, either through a tap filter system or countertop jug, we can use cooking water that is purer, especially in recipes like curries, soups, and sauces that require higher water content.
Consider water pie, a bare-bones dessert consisting of water, sugar, butter, and flour that was popular in America during the Great Depression. The sugary custard is made mostly from water and needs the cleanest water available to really let the buttery sweetness shine through.
It enhances flavour
One huge reason why filtered water is so popular is because it really improves the taste and clarity of a dish. It’s no secret that filtered water is free from metallic or chemical aftertaste often found in tap water. It’s clear and refreshing, making for beautiful broths and tasty pickling liquids.
Osumashi, a 500-year-old Japanese clear broth, uses clean water, dashi, soy sauce, shiitake mushrooms, and shiso leaf. It’s gorgeously delicate in both flavour and presentation and requires a pure and clean broth to perfectly capture its essence.
Faster cook time
Boiling water can take ages and really make finishing a recipe with a time crunch difficult. Even most water kettles take a while if completely full, and those extra 60 seconds can char your toasted garlic beyond repair.
One of the coolest benefits of properly filtered water is that it boils much faster than regular tap water. This is because tap water is weighed down by more minerals, making it harder to get the temperature to boiling point than filtered water.
This means whether you’re whipping up a decadent rice pudding or just boiling water for a classic pasta recipe, you’re more likely to get food on the table faster and with less hassle.
Conclusion
There are tons of benefits to investing in a proper filtering system, especially if you enjoy making vintage recipes. These classic dishes are a labour of love, so avoid unnecessarily hard work and use filtered water the next time you prepare some historical eats.
For more kitchen hacks and delicious recipes, check out our other blog posts here!
