Boiling The boiling point of water is 100 °C or 212 °F but is lower with the decreased atmospheric pressure found at higher altitudes. Boiling water is used as a method of making it potable by killing microbes that may be present. The sensitivity of different micro-organisms to heat varies, but if water is held at 70 °C (158 °F) for ten minutes, many organisms are killed, but some are more resistant to heat and require one minute at the boiling point of water. Boiling is also used in cooking. Foods suitable for boiling include vegetables, starchy foods such as rice,
Stone boiling alleviate the pressures of increasing populations as more nutrients could be extracted from existing food sources. Bone grease, in particular, served an economic purpose on the plains as it is used in the production of pemmican. Pemmican was an important trade item and storable food source. Stone boiling was used across North America, especially among West and Northwest Coast peoples. Indigenous peoples living between 33- and 58-degrees latitude, and 100- and 130-degrees longitude are generally associated with the use of stone boiling based on Kit Nelson’s, professor of anthropology at Tulane University, model of 152 “cultural groups” drawn from three