How to Boil Water
Boiling is the simplest way to make water safe to drink. What matters is a rolling boil sustained, not the total time the pot spends on the stove, and altitude changes the figure.
Servings: 1 liter
Ingredients
- 1 liter tap water
Instructions
- Put the water on over medium heat and bring it to a full rolling boil, one that keeps bubbling hard when you stir it. That takes about 10 minutes for a litre.
- Keep it at that rolling boil for a few minutes more. Then take it off the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
Notes
What matters is the rolling boil, not the total time the pot spends on the stove. Water reaches boiling point and stays there no matter how much longer you heat it, so once it is bubbling hard the extra minutes are what count. Public health guidance is that a rolling boil sustained for a minute makes water safe, and three minutes above about 2,000 metres, where water boils at a lower temperature. That second figure matters in Colombia: Bogotá sits at 2,600 metres and water boils there at around 92°C. Let it cool covered. Water left open to the air in an unclean container can be recontaminated after boiling, which undoes the point of it. Store it in something clean with a lid. Boiling does not remove chemical contamination, sediment or heavy metals: it deals with bacteria, viruses and parasites. Cloudy water is worth filtering through a clean cloth first.
Nutrition
Sodium: 50mg | Calcium: 30mg