August 14, 2006

Indigo extraction

The fine, leafy indigo plants are stacked in these plastic barrels. There they soak for awhile, and then caustic is added. During this process the ladies take a stick and smash the indigo like they do with grapes when making wine. After that some water is evaporated from the indigo, and the indigo is poured out on trays and dried in the sun. Finally it is smashed and sent to Dhaka ready to sell.

1 comment:

Maria said...

I seriously find everything you say so interesting. I'm so glad you didn't stop this blog :)