Podcast Summary
New Books Network: Nabeel Ali, "Gold from Newton's Apple Tree: Historical Recipes for Natural Inks, Paints, and Dyes" (Princeton UP, 2026) Episode Date: April 14, 2026
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Nabeel Ali

Main Theme & Purpose This episode explores Nabeel Ali’s book "Gold from Newton's Apple Tree," which investigates the historical, practical, and scientific dimensions of natural paint, ink, and dye recipes sourced from ancient and medieval manuscripts. The conversation dives into both the revival of these recipes and Ali’s practical experience re-creating them as an artist-in-residence at Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Who Is This Book For? (04:01)

   • The book is intentionally multidisciplinary, appealing to gardeners, horticulturalists, artists, craftspeople, historians, and conservation scientists working with manuscripts and artifacts.
   • "Generally, the interested parties are regarding technical manuscripts is across the board. So the book generally is for anyone." – Nabeel Ali (04:58)

2. Historical Context of Recipes (05:22)

   • Many recipes came from trade and religious workshops, scriptoriums, and guilds.
   • Recipes were primarily copied and passed down, sometimes with modifications.
   • Organic colorants (from plants) are more sensitive and variable than mineral pigments.

3. Seasonality & Sourcing Materials (07:16–11:20)

   • Recipes are highly dependent on plant parts available only in certain seasons.

   • Practitioners preserved and dried materials to ensure year-round access.

   • Historical techniques for storing and processing plant-based colors, referencing Roman architect Vitruvius’ method of fixing dyes to chalk for pigment storage.

   • "There are ways of preserving the color... For example, you can make a dye, then you can fix that to chalk to make pigment... let it dry, and then you can safeguard it to use whenever you want throughout the year." (09:18)

4. The Framework for Making Organic Paints (11:20–15:52)

   • Ali details an analytical framework consisting of:

     • Sourcing plant parts
     • Fillers (chalk, eggshells, clays, etc.)
     • Liquids (water, wine, vinegar, alcohol)
     • Preservatives (grapefruit seed extract, rosemary oil, vinegar, cloves)
     • Binders (gum arabic, animal glues, egg white/yolk)
     • Additives/mordants (alum, tin, potash) for color fixing and brightening

   • "My whole practice is based on that theory. And I think when it comes down to drying the plants out, they have to be dried before you store them or else they'll go moldy." (09:18)

   • "If somebody wants to read the book and, you know, find out that some of the plants are growing in their own garden, they can go into their garden, look at the framework, follow the framework, and by the end of the day, they'd be making color from their own garden." (15:36)

5. Practical Process at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden (16:25–19:33)

   • Ali discusses navigating the massive plant collection, using maps to locate species, and developing a methodological approach grounded in direct experimentation.
   • Focused on historically significant dye plants: woad (blue), madder (red), and weld (yellow)—the cornerstones of European dyeing.
   • "With the thousands of plants to work from, I've just touched the tip of the iceberg and there's so much to be discovered." (18:33)

6. Experimental Methods & Variability (20:13–23:50)

   • Field tests: Taking plant material, extracting dye, and running side tests with alum, tin, iron, potash, or sodium carbonate to observe shifts in color and stability.
   • Different fillers and mordants significantly alter the hue (example: elderberries turn green with chalk and alum, blue with vinegar, pink with clay).
   • "With the framework, they all work with one another... And there's lots of different variants. And that's where it becomes complex, and through experience, it becomes more fluent." (23:46)

7. Recipe Spotlight: Gold from Newton’s Apple Tree (26:14–28:37)

   • After the original Newton’s apple tree fell, Ali was permitted to experiment with its bark, extracting a "golden yellow" dye using alum mordant.
   • Reference to a 16th-century German manuscript that also describes apple bark dyes for yellow and red.
   • "The inner bark produces the color... I added alum to it and it brightened the country like a golden yellow. So when it was added to chamois leather or soft leather, it really looked beautiful." (27:20)

8. Testing Medieval 'Superstar' Dye Plants (29:02–32:39)

   • Indigo ("queen of blues"), woad, and madder "live up to their famousness." Ali recounts modern laboratory and practical successes comparable to historical acclaim.
   • He also notes plants/recipes that were less accessible (e.g., Brazilwood) or needed creative adaptation.

9. Stability and Longevity of Plant-Based Dyes (32:39–37:25)

   • Organic dyes usually last less than synthetics but can be made more durable with preparation and layering.
   • Rule #1: Nothing is forever. Rule #2: These are colors for the moment.
   • Layering dyes (overdyeing) and using UV-reflecting ingredients (e.g., isinglass from fish) can boost colorfastness.
   • "With organics... it's more to do with 4 and 5 [on the wool scale], whereas synthetic dyes... could be seven or eight." (34:40)
   • "Adding other ingredients, tweaking it here and there, using a framework and variants, you can prolong the color." (36:38)

10. Most Memorable Plant: Iris (Iris germanica) (38:00–41:37)

    • Experiments with iris, known in medieval Europe, led to unexpected vivid green pigments rather than purple.
    • Quoting a fifteenth-century Oxford recipe: "To make a good green for illuminating, take the fleur de lis and stamp it with a little alum..."
    • Collaboration with iris societies worldwide, receiving dried blooms from the American Iris Society that yielded further unexpected results.
    • "It's not just green you can make from iris. You can produce a blue as well. And it's a fantastic play so, yeah, iris is original." (41:32)

11. Current and Future Research (41:58–43:55)

    • Ongoing experimentation with hibiscus for a "glossy magenta glaze."
    • Prospective project: Field research in the Amazon rainforest, collaborating with indigenous groups to document color knowledge, contingent on pending funding.
    • Hopes for future books and a documentary.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the multidisciplinary audience:
  "The book generally is for anyone." (04:58)

• On seasonality and preservation:
  "If you want a yellow, but the berries are already ripe, then you have to wait the following year. That's if you haven't collected them and dried them in the first place." (07:41)

• On the creative process:
  "The first thing I'll see is that, okay, what the flowers grow. Growing. I see flowers in a different mind than say, in a horticulture sort of gardener where, you know, they say, isn't a beautiful flower growing in the dark. I feel I'm. I automatically think, what color does that plant make?" (20:17)

• On impermanence of color:
  "Nothing's forever as Rule 1. Always remember in your mind nothing is forever. And rule two in my mind is These are colors for the moment." (32:54) "With organics... it's more to do with 4 and 5 on the wall scale..." (34:40)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 04:01 | Who is the book for and intended audience
• 05:50 | Historical context: Who made and used these recipes and how
• 07:41 | Seasonality, plant sourcing, and preservation
• 11:33 | Ali's analytical framework for color-making
• 16:25 | Practical process at Cambridge's Botanic Garden
• 20:13 | Experimental methods and variables in making color
• 26:14 | Gold from Newton's Apple: experimenting with Newton’s tree
• 29:02 | Indigo, madder, woad: Testing medieval 'superstars'
• 32:54 | Longevity and stability of dyes and pigments
• 38:00 | Most memorable plant: Iris (Iris germanica) as a pigment source
• 41:58 | Ongoing work with hibiscus and future directions

Tone & Style

• The tone is exploratory, enthusiastic, and practical, with anecdotes from Ali’s hands-on work and historical detective work. Ali is both reverent for tradition and open to creative adaptation.

Conclusion

This episode provides an in-depth look at how medieval and early modern recipes for colors can be revived and adapted through meticulous study, experimentation, and creative engagement with plant materials. Ali’s work bridges historical research and contemporary practice, inviting listeners from many fields to rediscover the wonder and complexity of colors from nature.