This Pot Can Keep You Cool in the Desert
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- Опубліковано 26 чер 2024
- Arizona was a miserable place in the summer before air conditioning. Yet people have lived and thrived here for millennia, how did they deal with the extreme heat? One trick is the earthenware water jar called an "olla" that keeps the water inside cool with evaporation. This video takes a brief look at the history of the olla in the old Southwest and then I show how to make one and test out its amazing water cooling effect.
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0:00 Summer In Arizona
0:32 Historic use of ollas to cool water
3:11 Making an olla in the traditional way
6:17 Firing an olla outdoors
8:12 Testing the water cooling ability of the olla
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A little off-subject but related. There were structures called "Desert Submarines" that the railroads built, in the 1930s to the 1960s, in the desert so that their workers could sleep comfortably during hot weather. They were small metal buildings with very sloped roofs. On the roof and sides, there was burlap that covered the outside. They would continually drip water down the burlap. As the water evaporated, it would cool the inside of the small buildings. The temperature inside would be about 30°F cooler than outside, where it could be over 100°F overnight.
That's pretty cool, like an early swamp cooler
I visited one of my aunts in Mexico, a bit north of Mexico City. Granted weather is mild, this visit was during an unusually hot day. Her home was made of adobe, even the floor. It was cool and comfortable inside.
I need to make a trip to the desert this week and was thinking how I could maximize cooling my car by pouring water over it. Same idea I guess!
Try to make the A/C of the car have less work to do.
@@naomiburn8386 That will work until the water evaporates or gets blown away by the wind.
Also, don't forget sunscreen, a hat, and sunglasses. It gets toasty in the desert this time of year. Also, I recommend taking a gallon of drinking water. You'll be thankful if you get thirsty. Have a great trip. 😎
@@naomiburn8386 Oh, and don't put cold water on your hot windshield. It will crack and they are expensive to replace.
Olla, perfect. My grandpa used a 50 gallon oak barrel to catch rainwater to wash grandma’s hair. The water seeped slowly through the wood, evaporated and cooled. It tasted sooo good and felt so cool. He kept it in the shade of the garage overhang and a big tree. In Iraq and Afghanistan I put my water in 2 L plastic bottles, put a cotton sock over them, then sat them in a pan, with about 2 inches of water in the pan. The water would soak up, into the cotton socks, evaporate and voilà, cool water, not refrigerated, but much better than hot water. Our day time temperatures were form 110 - 127 degrees F. Kentucky
Nice, thanks for sharing your experiences.
@@AncientPottery "Olla" means "cooking pot" in spanish, and in fact, still nowadays we call "olla express" the pressure cooker
I'd guess the mexicans got it from us... here in Spain, you can easily find "botijos", above all in the south, tho nowadays is more of a souvenir than anything... same principle: cooling by evaporation. There are tons of classic paints depicting them, Bouguereau and Sorolla loved them
The first exemplar found here comes from the argaric culture, around 2000 B.C, no less
This is the same concept call the sweat bag. People use heavy burlap cloth to carry a water jug. The burlap is kept wet and the evaporation, or sweating, will keep the water inside cool
In Tunisia about sixty years ago everyone had such a vessel hanged above the entrance door. It was also an unglazed pottery like the olla but the opening was narrow. There was also a narrow spout so a trickle of water could fall in the mouth without lips touching the vessel and a handle so it could be hung on a hook.
A passerby could ask water to anyone in the street and no one could refuse.
The vessel was called "gargoulette". The water was delicious, I never could find this taste again.
That is great, thanks for sharing your experience in Tunisia. I am learning that such vessels have been and continue to be used all over the world in dry climates.
@@AncientPottery I assume this only works in dry climates?
Similar thing, but used manually (You just take it and drink from the spout) on all of Spain. You can still see them used today in the country, and as decoration in the cities. They are called "botijos"
@@framegrace1 well Maghreb and Spain had a common history during the Middle Ages difficult to know who brought it to the other.
After comparing on Google, they look the same.
That's what they call "botijo" in Spain, at least judging from your description. I imagine is a very ancient Mediterranean design. The basic mechanism is just like the "ollas" (which in Spain means "large cooking pot" instead) but they are more elaborate on the top, also flat bottoms.
I am from a hot and dry region in Saudi Arabia, and my parents, now in their fifties, always tell us how cool and refreshing water was from this kind of pottery (gallah قلة).
They had way bigger than the one shown, it looks kind of triangular in the bottom, and they let it sit vertically on a special base.
I guess it works best if you have a dry and windy place that accelerates the process of evaporation through the pores, like where I live.
That's great! Thanks for sharing how it is done in Saudi Arabia, it seems that water coolers like this are used all over the world.
I've seen "ROOMS" , partly underground ( I believe from that part of the world ) that for centuries have been use to preserve things .
I've seen pots like that in historical settings, and I never knew why they bothered making a base instead of making the bottom of the pot flat. I wonder if it was for this reason, and they wanted more surface area for more evaporative cooling.
When summer starts in India, these mud pots called madkha are a big sell out. Even if most have fridge . We prefer to drink water from these earthen pots. A damp cloth is place around the madkha to keep the water very cool. It is said the water taste better and is more refreshing.
Ive seen those, i wish we were still using ojjas because plastic is so bad
We have these in almost every household in India even today! We call them 'matkas'. Water from the refrigerator is super cold but doesn't really slake your thirst. Especially if you've been outside in the heat and dust of the day. Matka water also tastes better. Some folks add a tightly rolled bunch of dried vetiver grass for wonderful flavour and aroma. In fact I use an earthenware bowl for my dogs to drink out of too...
The original “spa’” water. Hello to India, from the U.S.
Wonderful thanks for sharing how this type of thing is done in India.
This thread is so fun, reading all the versions of the olla around the world. Love all the names - they're so musical.
In Punjab we called it ghara the water always was so refreshing!
Didn’t know this use for vetiver, great grass!
My People still make these. My great grandmother used these in the hot season when I was little. She handmade the most beautiful pottery.
Wonderful!
This is the first time in my life I've heard of or seen pottery fired without a kiln. My mom, who was an art teacher, would have been fascinated by this. I know I am! In retrospect, it makes sense that people would have started firing clay in an actual fire before inventing kilns.
Thank you, I am glad I could show you a different way.
Also handy if you don't want to build an entire kiln just to make a few pots!
If you fire clay in a kiln at normal temperatures it becomes water tight. You actually have to fire the pottery at lower temperatures if you want it to leach water.
@@kenhensch3996 thanks for explaining, I thought it was just the type of clay he used but I don't know much about pottery!
I too have learnt something here. Who knew, yet it's obvious, now I see this. Pottery was the order of the day and yet we know of no early kilns to supply this
Thank you for this historical perspective. Every time my grid fails, my internet connection does not connect, or my car does not start, and I think, "Now What???", I know what to do. You remind me what "we" seem to have forgotten. Self reliance ,first - Convenience, should we be so lucky.
And the taste is so satisfying, as a child who drank from the ollas de barro, the taste and freshness of that water gets embedded in your brain, I'm 58 and still remember when after playing with my cousins outside we all went to my grandma kitchen and make a line to drink water from the well passed thru a maceta with layers of sand and charcoal dripping to the olla ...that water really is a thirst quencher
Thank you for your story. I also have fond memories of drinking from clay vessels as a child, to this day I can distinctly remember the taste and smell of that water.
I'm originally for Panama, and grew up drinking water out of a large earthenware vessel called a Tinaja. My grandmother had one at home. It was big, would hold 3 to 5 gal of water, and it was the best tasting water ever! So cool and refreshing 😃🥰
True, water drank from earthenware vessels had a wonderful flavor. Thanks for sharing your experience in Panama.
@@AncientPottery No IT tastes Like clay
@@SchlaftaterNrzZz But would have added essential minerals to your body.
Nice Country I was there in the late 80';s Beautiful jungle and nice tropical beaches.
@@misst.e.a.187thats a straight Up lie
My grandmother lived in Washington DC from 1932-1976. She never had air conditioning. Her apt and later a house, had 10-12 foot ceilings. Windows were opened to let cool breezes in and rotating fans were in every room. Her house had a sleeping porch off the back of the house. I loved using the sleeping porch even into late October/early November. Even if the day temperature was 100 degrees, a breeze always kept the nights in the mid 60s to low 70s.
They had ways of dealing with the heat back in the old days for sure.
i'm a street missionary here in San Joaquin Valley California. you have saved a lot of lives from your posting as i show them videos and educate them how to survive thank you for what you are doing it makes a difference again thank you
Glad to make a difference, keep up the good work
I don’t believe you
Knowledge such as this will be lost if it isn't shared by people like you and this knowledge should be absolutely shared to keep it alive for our children and great grandchildren. Thank you for sharing this.
You are welcome
I think it's pretty amazing how low tech pottery can be. I love the idea of just slapping together some mud, taking it out into the desert, building a fire around it and making a pot happen. Nowadays, we often assume that you have to have an electric or gas kiln to make pottery and this sort of thing shows that the old-fashioned way still works!
So true, we are all programmed to think that everything comes from the store and needs to be made with machinery that plugs into the grid. Thanks!
I hear you!
Yes.. this kind of low fire burnished pot tends to be relatively soft and fragile vs higher firing pots though...African burnished pots made similarly to this can also be quite beautiful ..
I wish it's easy to just collect clay straight from the ground and just bake it.
@@nunyabiznes33 in some places it actually is lol there was this beach I remember where there was red clay that the waves hit often and sand was side by side. It's the north of long Island. Also if u dig deep enough in most if not all areas u will get to a mostly red clay dirt or in lakes ponds etc since the base of it is clay since clay is waterlogging type of "dirt"
Here in India people living in towns and villages still prefer to use such earthen pots called "matka" over refrigerated water during the summer. The trick for making it somewhat leak-proof is to immerse and soak the jar overnight in a bucket of water, presumably to seal any air pockets (?) Dropping a small bunch of vetiver roots into the matka will make the water almost as cold as the fridge.
That's great, thanks for sharing how clay jars are used in India. I am learning from the comments here that such pots are used all over the world in a similar manner.
Thank you 🙂
Actually this same principle is used the world over, we the ‘modern’ part of humanity have left it behind, embracing advanced technology for so many things and ruining our environment in the process…
That is a great idea for using the resources at hand. There are also other ways to use this simple evaporative cooling even for food.. but probably not for too long.
@@JohnHoranzy there's one Potter in India who makes clay fridges for village folks.
As I recall, my children’s Belizeaan grandma used to tell us how in the old days a hallmark of hospitality was serving a visitor water in a cup which was a dried hollowed gourd which grows on a tree known as the calabash tree; and she would always say the water from the calabash cup would be so nice and cool. I suppose it worked on the same principal of cooling because the vessel wall is porous and allows for evaporation. Good memories.
Great story, thanks for sharing.
Your comment lead me to look up calabaza in wiki. I was not disappointed. i love language.
I'm using unglazed plant pots with the saucers inverted over the tops buried up to the pot rims as faux ollas for irrigation in my garden as an experiment. The lettuce in that area is twice as big and much more productive than the 'standard watering' end of the same row. I had only heard of ollas used for irrigation before now, but it makes sense that they were used for drinking water as well.
It seems that these watering ollas are better known that the water jars these days. But they all depend on water seeping slowly from the jar.
@memphis diplore I fill mine every two to three days, they aren't very big (four inch standard). This is the first trial run, so I have been top watering occasionally as it's been a very dry summer. I do square foot type plots and one olla in the center seems to be keeping four squares happy.
@memphis diplore the size of the pot and the ability of the soil to absorb water determines how far. The larger the pot, the further it will spread, but it will only do so as the soil needs water, and too the roots. Some pots are every few days, some pots can be weekly or fortnightly. Your climate often determines how often it needs to be refilled. If it is cooler and rains more often, it is less necessary.
I would love to see a picture and understand more about this! Do you manually fill the pots or do you have some kind of drip system?
@@MarySmith-ry9cu I manually fill them. This is totally an experiment. But a semi-successful one. No photos that I'd like to share, my garden is not instagram worthy LOL.
In my childhood my family kept water in an Olla that came with a cup that sit on the mouth of the olla. This cup covered the mouth from debris and insects but also as a vessel to drink water.
Awesome, thanks for sharing your experience.
We called them cántaro. Olla was the clay pot we cooked in. Cántaros had a narrow neck, it wasn’t as wide as here. It was just right for pouring.
My grandmother had one in her house in Mexico, not only was the water fresh but it acquired a great flavor. 😊
Ancient technology never ceases to amaze me. 🙂
Indeed
I remember drinking cold water in Yemen which was stored in an earthenware vessel (clay jug) that was covered over with a cloth, but kept near a well-ventilated window. The cool air had an effect on the porous make-up of the clay pot, and kept the water cold, even on hot days. Excellent video, Andy, as usual! I actually saw people taking plastic bottles and wrapping them on the outside with a damp cloth, who then set the bottles in a window sill. This had the same cooling effect on the water within the plastic bottles.
Thanks for that real life experience with earthenware water cooling. When I was a kid they used to sell canvas water bags which would keep the water cool the same way. And when I worked for the US Forest Service we had canteens that had fuzzy cloth attached to the outside so you could wet it and keep the water inside cool. The problem was that it is so dry in Arizona that you would need to stop and wet the canteen every 20 minutes to keep it damp.
@@AncientPottery Growing up I worked in the cotton fields near Peoria, just north-west of Phoenix and I remember using the canvas bags for water. The water was refreshingly cool and I even preferred the water bag over the jug of ice water. The water from the bag was just more refreshing. My sister had an olla like the one you made and the water was just as refreshing and I liked the earthy taste of the water.
@@AncientPottery I remember when driving across the desert people would have a canvas bag of water hanging on the front of the car. Good for drinking and if the car got over heated you could use it to put in the radiator. Do you remember vapor lock?
@@UtahGmaw99 I have lots of experience with vapor lock. I was having some similar car problems this weekend and was reminded.
In some of the older western books I've read, they were on a shelf with a rope around top (safety) on the porch where wind blew. Blowing wind help cool water. There are also large ones that had a sealed pot that would fit inside. Space between pots was filled with sand and watered, cooling effect allowed food in inner pot to last longer.
Interesting thanks
Hey, I'm from Spain and we used something very similar named "botijo" is just a closed version of the same thing (so it does not get dirty from all the dust or bugs) and since "olla" is the Spanish word for "pot" i believe all of this should come from. Take a look at a botijo, is quite tricky to make or drink from (is like drinking wine from a "bota de vino".
Omg wow! I just checked out the botija and it does look similar! However, I would like to add that while the olla may have a Spanish name it is actually of PRE-Columbian origin, Native American (of the Americas) 👍
Saludos from the state of Nevada which is also Spanish for "snow-covered mountain range" 😅
Yes thank you, around the world people do similar things
@@itsame1477 Pottery is quite an ancient knowledge, tbh I think that is quite hard to point at who did it first or even if they were inspired by or multiple cultures came out to the same result based on their own and independent experience and kwoledge transfer.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botijo here you can find more info (if you go to the spanish version and translate it you might find more info, even the formula that gives you the cooling performance, quite nerdy and awesome)
@@itsame1477 lol
Earthenware is still used widely in India especially these pots/ Mataka as we call for storing water are in many households. Water from it is cool as opposed to cold from refrigerator. Cold water is a no in my house. This coolness is just perfect in all climates.
Wish those worked in the southeast. Our lovely humidity doesn't allow evaporation rapidly enough to cool the water.
True, this is only effective in dry climates.
When l was a kid we were poor mom had an olla but it was glazed on the outside mom must have used it hundreds of times for making beans for me & my 2 brothers.
She always took care of her olla,it brings back memories,from 1958 as a kid in San Antonio,Texas.
Awesome
clay pots for water storage used to be very common in india till 90's and early 2000's and are still common in remote areas.
FYI, black clay pot tend to cool the water more than any other type
Interesting, thanks
Surahi
I live in Mumbai and we still use this. We fill the water from our aquaguard into the pot, and we drink water from the pot. It is definitely cooler than the water directly from the aquaguard. We don't even keep bottles in the fridge in our house.
I love the fact you're using ancient techniques and natural organic material. Mahalo for sharing such an amazing part of your culture! 🤙
My pleasure!
I can't help but feel I'd have been a lot more engaged in the ceramics section of my high school art classes if we'd built something as practical and beautiful as this, rather than yet another pencil holder.
So, you determined your level of effort by what you were making? Gotcha…yeah, maybe the problem isn’t the pencil holder? Perhaps you should realize that you weren’t ready to make pottery? Maybe draw the letter “S” before attempting a sonnet? Maybe I’m wrong but I think you are
@@jacklatta1890 Tell me you were abused as a child but don't tell me
In the later 1980s My sister in law who's from, and has always lived in Oaxaca, Mexico gave me a beautifully made terracotta olla, and explained to me that the water we would purify we'd transfer into our olla and it would be clearer and cooler throughout our day. (at that time it was done where she lived by boiling, later they bought their drinking water [and still do] from someone who came through the neighborhoods with 5 gallon water jugs) She wasn't aware at the time that everyone had beautiful safe water flowing 24/7 from all of our taps at home. I've managed to keep it for 37 years undamaged, with a lovely patina it's gathered over time.
Edit; Back then I was lucky to have been allowed to carry it the only way safely possible (without packing it well and paying extra) on two long flights back home, which was on my lap. It's a large one, it looks like around three or four gallons, and it has a nice lid, too. There's a lovely flowers and geometrics design that was scratched into the smooth clay with a small sharp instrument, which has become even more highly contrasted with the smoothed body of the vessel over time as the olla has become darker.
Wonderful story, thanks
My grandson was introduced to pottery at school and he’s hooked, but we were “argh” about the kiln. Can’t wait to try your methods in my yard with him. He’ll be excited! Thank you!
Wonderful!
For my community college the ceramics class fee is very small and you get lessons from a professor while using their kiln of course. I was also able to save on clay by buying through the school. Was a great experience for me, good luck to you and your grandson.
UA-cam channel " Townsend " has a video on making an earth/mud bread oven which can be easy made in your backyard to bake food or have a separate one as a kiln.
Charcoaling or firing bricks is just stacking fuel up as a pile, place what you want to fire harden around the fuel, and cover in about a foot of dirt and mud coat to trap the air within leaving a single/few air draw points.
If you have the backyard space to dump a few cubic yards of dirty in, you can make a lot of things out of dirty, along with mud fights.
Very interesting. I first heard about olla's through gardening. Porous vessels buried in the ground and filled with water will serve if you don't have the money for drip irrigation. The roots of the surrounding plants will gather and surround the buried olla.
Yes, this seems to be getting more popular.
Thanks for the awesome tip!!!
🙂
Any terracotta will work, don't go around burying good kitchenware.
P
Even placing broken clay bricks in the pit and then planting trees help
2:17 "...because of the porous nature of the clay jar which is unglazed, the water within will slowly seep out through the pores, and the warm air outside causes evaporation. This circulation and evaporation keeps the walls of the jar cool, and the water inside lowers in temperature and becomes excellent for drinking. Small two or five gallon jars are a common sight through the country districts of California where the jars hang under a shady orange or umbrella tree in the summer days." - The Clay-worker (journal), volumes 85-86 (1926), p. 37
I visited northern Sudan right in the Sahara desert back in the late 90s. The people there all used larger versions of this to keep their water cool. They would take water straight from the Nile river and put it into large pots that were probably between 30 to 50 gallons if memory serves. I enjoyed many a cool drink in the 115° heat
Awesome, thanks for the experience.
Those 30-50 gallon jars are mentioned in the Bible, that’s where water used for purifying rituals and wine were kept.
Typo edit
When I first travelled in Asia decades ago, these types of pots (much larger) were common in every village/temple; now sadly they are a thing of the past. They would have bamboo ladle type spoons that were hung and everyone would drink from them (never touching the lips or mouth). Clay pots like this also act to purify the water as the clay is anti-viral and bacterial. You can make a type of natural filter water purifier by using un glazed pots and letting the water sit, it is certainly superior to the corporate produced toxic plastic water filters most Americans currently use.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Maybe some day we will go back to living more simply with these sorts of things.
That is so amazing about the water actually getting purified! I never thought of our water filters as toxic! We filter out the sediments...
We have well water which is pretty good but there is a white ingredient in it that sticks to my pots and kettle...
@@granmabern5283 I grew up on well water. Can't stand city water so I need a carbon filter to get rid of the chlorine taste. Our well water had alot of iron in it and made everything rust colored. We used to joke that we had water you could chew.
@@granmabern5283 Limescale? Try acid...
Edit: On your pots, not in the well...
Many of the historic ollas used around Tucson were not made exactly like I did it. I used the coil and scrape method, but the O'odham who were making those ollas at San Xavier were using the paddle and anvil method. You can learn more about that method for making water jars in this video ua-cam.com/video/YENbjQnihGw/v-deo.html
Just as a note for the comparison, I'd think that a more similar type of pitcher might better for comparison. A glazed one would be a better comparison to the Olla there from a stability thing.
A covered, clear plastic pitcher has very different properties from an earthenware, open pitcher...which is more of a direct comparison.
@@AzraelThanatos this was not a scientific experiment merely a demonstration of its cooling ability. The amount of water was identical and started at the same temperature. That’s good enough for me.
Do you have to keep the top open? Will it affect the air from helping the cooling process if you made a lid to keep the water clean?
@@stacypolk3580 I believe you need it, largely, open to work right...I know some places they use cheese cloth or similar as a screen for them
Have you considered looking into making a video about ceramic water filters? That same porosity of unglazed pottery is a really good filter in turning dirty water into potable water.
It's just hella slow at doing it, but it's knowledge that could become very valuable.
Thanks for the suggestion, I need to look into those
@@AncientPottery i look forward to your answer
I wonder how homemade could compare to Berket's ceramic filters. There are different types that filter out different things (for ex, a special one to filter out Cl & F). Could we make them ourselves??
@@AncientPottery subbed for the answer^^
@@AncientPottery please do. Might save someone stuck in a place where clean water is limited.
Very cool little history lesson!
Thanks! Editing a video today in which I reference your video about Moncacht Apé, it will probably go live sometime in September. I'll give you a heads up.
@@AncientPottery Awesome! Can't wait to see it!
As I read through the comments about cooling spaces and people, it makes my heart warm. We need a space like this to share ideas about ancient tech and new ideas to help with climate change. Thanks everyone for the grest ideas!😍
This is so interesting! I've always wondered what people did before AC in Arizona. Lots of people say that AC made living in Arizona possible but I always felt that people must have had other ways to keep cool before AC that we've simply forgotten.
So true!
I love ollas, I didn't know they were so widely used for drinking. I plan to make a few ollas to add to my garden, they make it easy to water plants. Thank you Andy for the video and thank you to the ancient potters out there 😊
You're welcome. I think the watering with ollas thing is relatively more recent but just as useful.
@@AncientPottery We found evidences of Ollas in the Roman empire aswell to water plants. It's very old!
I am wondering if the ollas will draw away the slugs too be sure they often come up in the grass when it rains. Maybe a small one full of beer is the best solution though.
Really liked how you made the pot from beginning to end and then put it to use.
Thanks
We had the same system in the Berber areas of Morocco, we add also a wet rug on top of the clay jar to keep the water fresh for a longer period 😊
Interesting! Thanks for sharing that information.
In Ghana 🇬🇭 I saw this growing up too. The water is refreshing. I've been thinking about it lately. I'm glad I came across this video
As someone who knows very little about ceramics I've often wonder how potters got their vessels so smooth. I took pottery in high school and I was so bad at it.
Yeah I was pretty bad when I was in school too, but there is a trick to it that can be learned.
lots of practice on the wheel
Here in Spain we use something similar called "botijo" when working on the countryside, but it's made with a narrow neck in order to drink directly from it. The mechanism to cool the water is basically the same. The oldest one found by archeologists was made around 3.500 years ago. We might call it vintage portable refrigerator
Yes I have heard of that, thanks
Nice job
Fun fact: Olla is what these pots are called in Egypt too. Only they pronounce the "L"s unlike in spanish. They are still used in the country side in places where electricity is scarce. The Expression "Break an Olla after they leave" is like saying "good riddance!" when someone who is hated leaves and you hope you don't ever see them again.
That's pretty cool, thanks for sharing that story
My aunt had a clay pit close to her house out at Old Soldier Trail. Loved to watch her make these ollas and bisque them in her home built earthen kiln. They do work.
Awesome
Reminds me a lot of the "pot-in-pot coolers", or "zeers" that were used to keep food cool in some places of the world before fridges became a thing. Very cool!
Same concept for sure.
So what was that: a pot with the food inside an "olla" (or similar device) with water? That's an interesting concept, especially now that we're heading for an energy-less world.
@@LuisAldamiz dude...we aren't headed for an energy-less future.....
That's just 'Greta' fantasy (un)thinking.
Actually you can built a "refrigerator" using 2 clay pots; a big one in the outside filled with water and a smaller one in the inside where you can put things to keep cool, not only water (usually you put a cloth over the pots)
Three things to remember and consider using a Olla. . .
-First, the relative humidity needs to be rather low for one to work at all. The southwest Unitied States is a perfect climate for one. An Olla with a surrounding RH of above ~50% will not work well. An RH below 35% is great.
-Second, Ollas that are thinner and round, shaped like an old western "cowboy's canteen" work much better as they have more surface area for the amount of water contained.
-Setting an Olla where they are exposed to a breeze is best. Places where a breeze is 'constricted' and the wind speed increases, such as in a narrow rock passage or between two structures in the shade is best.
Good tips, thanks
bolla bolla boy!
All day I've faced the barren waste
With out the taste of water... cool, water.
Ole Dan and I, with throats burned dry,
and souls that cry
for water... cool, clear water.
It's life, especially in the desert.
Here in Brazil we have something similar: the filtro de barro or clay filter, it has a diferent part also made from porous clay that filters the water, then then the water settles on something similar to the olla, in that it is also a non glazed clay that cools the water throught the same mechanism
Awesome, thanks for sharing your local tradition. It is interesting to read in the comments from people all overt the world who use pots in a similar manner.
That is true for a big part of the country. however, the regular Olla - Talha as we call them - were VERY much the most present in pre-electricity southern Brazil.
Every kitchen had one, my grandmother's too. Shame that my uncle dropped and broke it some years ago.
My mother used something similar to this as a food chiller, before we got a fridge in 1962. (I'm dragging the memory from before I started school, so I may be mis-remembering.) It was like a giant (unglazed) flower pot, inverted over a saucer-like base, which had a gutter into which the pot rim was placed, and which was filled with water. I think the pot was wetted first maybe?. The food (meat, milk, butter, cheese, and water) sat on a glazed plate, raised slightly above the saucer on little nubbins. Our weather was rarely very hot, so it didn't have to work terribly hard, but I definitely remember cool water on summer days!
Cool, thanks
Bless You dearly, my brother 🕊️
Thanks for the video, great to see how the pots are made. Similar clay pots were and are still used in East Africa. Modern ones are now built with a simple tap at the bottom to avoid having to dip a ladle in the top.
Cool, thanks.
Very cool, I’m no pottery guy but I can still appreciate the production value. You’re a great clay sculptor.-
I appreciate that!
I saw a kind of low tech water filter design also similar to this..inside a bigger pot like these, a smaller one with extra pourousness from adding crushed carbon allows a low tech carbon filter... Apparently quite effective..
I have also seen it but the ceramic element would need to be much more porous than. this pot is.
Great! I am from Serbia and my grandmother stored water in almost the same dish called "testija", and that water was cold even in hottest summers.
This is faaaaaaarrrr better than plastic!!!far from cancer far from disease!!thank you for this video..it helps a lot
You're welcome, I am glad you enjoyed it.
People in many countries like India, middle east, south Asia still use earthen pots to keep water cold. Especially if you travel to rural regions. They also use earthen pots for storing food, pickling and cooking, the food taste way better also. They also use traditional fire place/pits for cooking as well, really cool to see people still keep their traditions and cultures alive. And these people don’t go around cutting trees for firewood either, they do collect dead trees but usually just go around the woods collecting twigs and branches, and makes dried grass and leaves cakes with cow dung to use as firewood, also to build huts. I know this because I visited few places on trips, I learned so much of survival skills by visiting these places and one thing that I learned is also, people living in rural places like this are very content and happy, and actually very smart, they are definitely not book smart people but smart on life and social skills.
WOW !!! What a comprehensive, knowledgable and enjoyable presentation. Thank you so much. Going to try this with the kids.
Awesome, great kids project idea!
In my country, the Dominican Republic we call this “Tinajas” they are the best to keep the water nice and cool ! It really works 👍🏼
Cool thanks
Not only do YOU blow it out of the water but your viewers also educate us on a UBER generous and informative level. Thanks all 👍🏻!
Thank you Andy for this olla video! They are so useful! I wonder if decorative slip would be okay or if there would be an issue…? Just musing😊 You’ve inspired me to go find my own clay; everywhere I look I see opportunities 😍 I’ve got gourds I grew in my garden that now have a new purpose! More and more you teach me to appreciate southwest history and the very ground that made it possible. Your channel is a rare find!
Thank you so much. I think slip could be done but it would impede the porousness, so I would only use it for adding some basic designs, not for covering the entire surface.
You definitely went with a Ken Burns style documentary style here. I think it worked great
Thanks, I love Ken Burns documentaries!
I remember at 9yrs.old seeing an olla at this old woman's house she had a cloth over it so bugs wouldn't get in it was a poor Mexican neighborhood she lived in this one room shack with her husband. l tasted the water and great tasting and cool.1957 great memories.San Antonio, Tex.Great video!
Thanks
Love thy quail and roadrunner birds in the background.
Thanks, the desert is alive.
Super interesting and some good looking clayware as well. I had no idea porous clay pots work like this. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome.
It's been in use for nearly 5000 years from now in Asian countries. Also add charcoal, sand, pebbles small and large, copper coins inbetween the waterpot for cool filtered earthy mineral water with a metal tap.
Shows that the natives know how to live comfortably in a region. And not just in north america but everywhere in the world, as many comments show.
Humans are highly adaptable worldwide
True,my grandmother work making
Ollas and Comal of clay.
I have one of her last ollas she made
Holds about 5 galons of water,
Of cold water.
To me is one of my treasures.
She passes 1988.
By the way your Olla come out
Beautiful.
Thanks
Thank you for sharing. How wonderful to have your grandmother's olla. I want to make a comal at some point too.
I never knew these existed until this video. I’m glad I just learned something new. Also I’m loving the comments of people from other cultures around the world explaining similar clay containers.
Thanks. Yes me too, learned a lot from the comments of people around the world.
Such a user friendly and easy to follow tutorial! I have wanted to get into clay, and this doesn't even require a wheel. Since I garden, I will try these for both drinking water, but also in raised beds to water plants. Thank you for sharing! This is right up my alley.
Awesome I'm glad I could help.
Reminds me of when I was a kid and visiting my paternal grandfather in the mountains of Sinaloa. The villagers had large ollas with clean mountain spring water. Similar as you describe only larger. The water as I recall was pleasantly cold and earthy tasting. Thanks for sharing. 😊
Wonderful
Lol I grew up drinking water from a taller pot than this and never thought about it, my grandmother always kept it full with a month humid very hot weather this was super refreshing for me and this was 40 yrs ago 😊
Thanks for sharing
Watching some of your videos has really inspired me to get started on my own earthenware projects! Thank you for such comprehensive information and experience!
Glad to be able to inspire you
Hey! I just got into earthenware cooling a little while ago, and interestingly enough it was used for more than keeping water cold, and used far later than one might think! so back in the pre-50s when people still got their milk from the milkman, there was a clay/earthenware 'stand' that would keep the milk cold on hot summer days. the thing about this though is that it really only works to that capacity in dry climates like Arizona or Mexico, this wouldn't be nearly as effective in Florida for example. Even though the Florida heat can get hot, the humidity is what really determines this technology's effectiveness, I don't remember the specifics but it has to do with how saturated the air is.
That sounds pretty cool, I haven't heard of or seen one of those before. Thanks!
Loved your art of making a clay pot. Most people from rural India use clay pots and pans. The cool water from these pots tastes so good with the refreshing fragrance of the clay . Also food cooked in clay pots are much more appetizing.
Yes, you are right. Thanks
Canvas water bags were hung over camels or horses in the old days, and continue to be used in outback Australia. The principal is the same. There are so many deserts here, that the word 'outback' is most commonly used. those are nice looking traditional pots; I'd love to have a go at making some - You've inspired Me, Thanks.
I just found your channel and I'm addicted. While I never had the chance to make any pottery I have always wanted to do something like that. Now I can enjoy watching someone else make it. 🙂
LOL, living vicariously though me.
I live in a very hot and dry part of Brazil. I remember seeing big clay pots (big like over 1m/3.5ft tall) lying around my grandparents house. They weren't in use anymore because they had refrigerators, but to this day we still have clay filters and the cooling effect is very noticeable. The filtration system isn't itself made of clay, they're made of a porous ceramic like thing that has antibacterial properties, but the compartments in which the water is stored pre and post filtration are.
Yes, I have seen those. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have also seen very large water jars like that here in Arizona.
In india we call this Matka and I love the water that's Cooled in this, more than the water thats Cooled in a fridge. The fridge water hits like a ball covered in needle but the water in the Matka feels like a cold cotton ball, soft and smooth
That red clay is beautiful. I've never seen that shade before.
Yes, when my Dad used to take us to the country side he used clay cantaros o botellon to keep the water cool. They were like a regular pot with a long neck and came with a cup that you would put on the mouth of the long neck part to prevent dust from going into the water. By the way, I cook my beans on a clay pot, they have a light pinkish color and taste better than cooked on a stainless steel pot.
Awesome, thanks for sharing your experiences.
That's incredibly interesting and useful! On a hot day that difference in temperature of the water is huge!!
Yes and when pouring it into your body, every degree below body temperature is helpful in cooling you. Thanks
Wow!! Thank you - sooo glad I got our channel
Welcome!!
I grew up with these in every cool pantry built facing south . A cooler hanging under a tree made with coke in double layered mesh that had water dripping over it . Effective for keeping meat or dried meat cool
Great thanks for sharing your experience.
I grew up drinking from these in Paraguay! But much larger ones that always had cool water from the well.
They are called cántaros or kambuchi.
Awesome thanks for sharing your experience.
I love your channel and everything I’ve learned from you! So many interesting new things to me ❤️
Glad you like them!
I have no idea how I ended up on this video. But now I want to do pottery! I love this ground up approach.
Thanks, I hope you give it a try
Wow. This is beautifully done.
There are many more advanced Evaporative cooler variations, one is called "Pot-in-pot refrigerator". You could upgrade this one pretty quick - if you wrap around it wet fabric (you should re-wet it few times a day for better results). If you search there is also some Evaporative coolers done entirely out of thick wet wool.
No doubt this could be improved on. But this video is as much about the history as it is about keeping water cool. Anyone who sees this is encouraged to take this concept and see what you can do to make something truly awesome. Thanks for the info.
This was very common in Spain too, specially on the center and south of the country where temperatures rise really up in summer, up until de 50s i think, when refrigerators got introduce in the country in a massive way and became very popular, on some small town or villages you can still see this jars, they were also use for wine preservation and oil or vinegar processing or transport with some special treatments on the jars.
Thanks for that info
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.
I think there is some mixing of history here. The word "Olla" comes from the Arabic Qolla or قلّة. The most likely origin of this in Arizona is from Spanish, which of course borrowed it from Arabic. Many north African Arabic dialects including Egyptian (more on that in a bit) when pronouncing قلّة will pronounce it with a silent "q" leaving just "Olla", with the Spanish pronunciation turning the Ls into a Y.
The use of qollas dates back to pharaonic times. Much greater cooling efficiency can be achieved by placing the qolla in a stream of cool air. In Egypt there is a predominant cool northern wind which comes from the Mediterranean. Houses would be built with north-facing intake vents (wind catchers) which took in the cool northern wind. This would be channeled into ventilation for the home. The qollas with water would be placed in front of the wind catcher vent, where the northern breeze would constantly flow over them. This would accelerate the evaporative cooling and much greater differences in temperature would be achieved. During winter this method would result in ice forming in the qollas, which in Pharaonic Egypt was highly prized.
Bonus fact: ancient Egyptians would immerse sealed vessels of beer and wine into the qollas so that the beverages would keep longer and be cool and refreshing to drink. The first human to ever crack open a cold beer was Egyptian.
I really enjoyed watching how you were able to make this without any sophisticated equipment. Although I am in Wisconsin rather than the desert southwest, I heard of using ollas to slow-water in-ground (or container) plants. I was unaware of their use to cool water for drinking. I have a fair amount of clay on my property, and may have to revisit the possibility of making one of these.
I was surprised to see your method for firing though. I was wondering about the potential for cracking during the process.
Thankyou for a great video :)
This is so cool. 😎
I've also heard of a zeer, or pot-in-pot cooler, that can keep food cool for days, saving produce and extending the shelf life.
Thanks, I'm going to have to look into that
In Egypt a "zeer" is a very large olla effectively (a barrel size). And they call the olla, "olla" as well, but the L's are pronounced as L's
This is one of the most useful things I've ever seen on the internet!
These look like the ones my grandmas made. Very nice, takes me back home.
That's awesome, thanks