1840 • Bílinské digestive pastilles

The phenomenon that gave rise to the classic heartburn lozenge

In the beginning, there was a small idea to concentrate the healing effect of the spa spring into a "smaller" and more compact form, combined with improving its taste. In the end, there was a phenomenon that has survived to this day as the classic bicarbonate digestive pastille, which is still produced in its artificial form under various names in many parts of the world today.

After centuries of use, Bílinská kyselka has become a staple in many Europeans' lifelong battle with stomach acid. Many people have not even discovered what causes their problems, but have learned to alleviate or completely suppress these symptoms by drinking Bílinská.

But it was impractical to carry bottles of Bílinská with you everywhere. They didn't fit on trips or in your handbag. Moreover, it was already well known that the positive effects are of course the salts dissolved in the spring - and that by drying the water into a powder and re-dissolving it in clean water, we get a solution that is equally effective against heartburn.

The drying up of the spring to obtain salt was apparently even the subject of the battles for the local springs from the legends about the salt miners from the Hájek Chronicle. At that time, the salt miners tried to obtain table salt, or what we would call sodium chloride today, from the Bílina springs. To their disappointment, they evaporated the white powder, but it was not possible to season the dishes with it. Instead, it was a bitter taste that did not add any appeal to the dishes.

The white powder that we obtain by evaporating the Bílinské medicinal springs is mainly bicarbonate, specifically sodium bicarbonate. The older term is also sodium bicarbonate, and the trivial name is "soda bicarbonate".

While drinking Bílinské prameny, its effects were well empirically observed. Eventually, the saying became established that Bílinská kyselka positively participates in practically all digestive processes. The idea of ​​producing a compact package of healing power was therefore appropriate.

The spring salt powder itself can be dissolved. But it is best in distilled water – and that is often unavailable. If the powder was pressed into a solid form, dissolving it in the mouth was not pleasant. Artificially produced bicarbonate of soda could be used, but it was just as bitter. The revolutionary idea was to add sugar and flavoring.

Eventually, the menthol flavor from regional sources, i.e. mint, became established. Then, the more exotic orange flavor was adopted, which also proved successful in the simple Bílinská kyselka. Just as Bílinská flavored with sugar and orange created the basis for the taste of today's lemonades, spring salts pressed with sugar and flavoring into a larger tablet laid the foundation for the digestive tablet.

The most common name for the product was “pokroutka” – perhaps due to the screw press process. Another was the local name “zeltche”. Nowadays, we would most commonly use the name “pastilla”.

As contemporary literature says, lozenges soon became very popular for their taste and because they were popular with children. They were much more pleasant to use than ordinary bicarbonate of soda.

Why is artificially produced sparkling water called soda water?

Here we can recall that after the invention of Mr. Schwepps' Siphon, people also started drinking plain water saturated with carbon dioxide. This led to the production of so-called "artificial sodas", which tasted very much like simple sodas without any other mineral substances, such as the simple sodas from the Vittel spa. However, simply dissolving carbonic acid in water made the drink too acidic. Therefore, almost immediately, simple sodas began to be modified by adding artificial sodium bicarbonate. This neutralized the taste of the carbonic acid and made the drink more pleasant. It was produced in such quantities that it was called "soda water" in English-speaking countries. This name then became popular in our country in the form of the designation "sodovka".

Bílinské pastilles became another staple product of the bottling plant, which had previously been the so-called magnesium powder. Magnesium powder even had its own building, which stood in the space between today's main factory building and the Bílina - Kyselka railway station. Magnesium powder did not only contain magnesium, the name was based on historical grounds. It was produced by reacting the evaporation of Bílinská and Zaječická. However, it was used wherever magnesium would be used as a food supplement today, for the treatment of eczema, as a disinfectant and in cosmetics. However, it gradually ceased to be in demand - contemporary sources state the reason for this was the influx of cheap "Tyrolean magnesia".

However, additional income from the additional assortment was desirable and so the production of pastilles was given priority. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, production was in full swing and pastilles became the third pillar of sales. However, since their main chemical composition and the production process could not reasonably be covered by patent law, digestive pastilles began to be commonly produced in other places from raw materials prepared by chemical processes.

The production of artificial pastilles was, and still is, much cheaper and easier than the relatively laborious production by evaporating a spa spring. This is also the reason why it is difficult to think about the production of pastilles today. After the end of World War II, the production of pastilles from Bílina slowly disappeared.

It is almost impossible for customers, accustomed to buying sucking digestive lozenges at every gas station, to pay much more for the genuine original. However, the original recipes are available and perhaps the future will surprise us with something.