Molasses. Daniels and Heisig have reported the acidity of molasses,
honey, and corn sirup. Cooking molasses and sorghum, like sour milk, vary
in acidity, so that the amount of soda required to neutralize the acid varies.
Some require Yi teaspoon of soda per cup, others ^, and some 1 teaspoon.
An average amount is about ^ of a teaspoon per cup of molasses. How-
ever, the strong flavor of the molasses may mask the flavor caused by the
excess soda to a certain extent, so that one is often safe in using the amount
required for the molasses containing the highest proportion of acid, i.e.,
1 teaspoon per cup.
Many old recipes containing molasses, like those containing sour milk,
call for excess soda. In the cooky contest previously mentioned, it was not
uncommon to find recipes that called for Yi cup of soda for 3 quarts of
molasses and a pint of sour cream or milk.
Honey and corn sirup. The acidity of honey as reported by Daniels
and Heisig varies. For the samples they tried they report that from Yi
to 1/12 of a teaspoon of soda was required to neutralize the acidity of 1
cup of honey. This acidity is so low that it is hardly worth while to add
soda for neutralizing. The acidity of corn sirup is very much lower than
that of honey.
Cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is an acid salt and combines with
soda to form carbon dioxide gas. It was used extensively before baking
powders came into common use. Many recipes still state to use cream of
tartar and soda for the leavening agent, and many of them call for equal
amounts of these two ingredients. As the weight of a teaspoon of soda or
of cream of tartar is practically the same, an excess of soda is left in the
baking mixture when equal measures of the two are used, for by weight
188 parts of cream of tartar combine with 84 parts of soda to form 18
parts of water, 44 parts of carbon dioxide, and 210 parts of sodium potas-
sium tartrate. These proportions by measure are approximately 2^4 tea-
spoons of cream of tartar to a teaspoon of soda.
KHC4H4O6 + NaHCOa > NaKC4H406 + H2O + CO2
potassium tartrate soda sodium potassium water carbon
or cream of tartar tartrate or dioxide
Roclielle salts
450 BATTERS AND DOUGHS
Baking Powder
Hart states that baking powder was first used in England about 1830.
It was made of "pearlash and alum, and later of sesquicarbonate of am-
monia." When crystalline substances were mixed with soda, a wider use
was insured for baking powder, for with the dry salts, reactions of the
baking powder did not take place until it was moistened, and the alkaline
and acid substances could be kept in the same container.
The ideal baking powder. Hart states that "From the standpoint
of the consumer, the ideal baking powder (a) gives the most gas for the
least volume and weight of powder; (b) gives the gas slowly when cold
and increasingly in the cooking dough, so the dough may be mixed cold
and left standing several hours; begins to generate gas in quantity in the
oven and ceases to generate when it would rupture the crumb; (r) leaves a
tasteless and absolutely harmless residue in the bread; (d) is cheap; (e)
keeps well. The chemicals should not react on one another in the can and
thus lose strength."
Page 367
Presented as published in 1932. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
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Molasses. Daniels and Heisig have reported the acidity of molasses,
honey, and corn sirup. Cooking molasses and sorghum, like sour milk, vary
in acidity, so that the amount of soda required to neutralize the acid varies.
Some require Yi teaspoon of soda per cup, others ^, and some 1 teaspoon.
An average amount is about ^ of a teaspoon per cup of molasses. How-
ever, the strong flavor of the molasses may mask the flavor caused by the
excess soda to a certain extent, so that one is often safe in using the amount
required for the molasses containing the highest proportion of acid, i.e.,
1 teaspoon per cup.
Many old recipes containing molasses, like those containing sour milk,
call for excess soda. In the cooky contest previously mentioned, it was not
uncommon to find recipes that called for Yi cup of soda for 3 quarts of
molasses and a pint of sour cream or milk.
Honey and corn sirup. The acidity of honey as reported by Daniels
and Heisig varies. For the samples they tried they report that from Yi
to 1/12 of a teaspoon of soda was required to neutralize the acidity of 1
cup of honey. This acidity is so low that it is hardly worth while to add
soda for neutralizing. The acidity of corn sirup is very much lower than
that of honey.
Cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is an acid salt and combines with
soda to form carbon dioxide gas. It was used extensively before baking
powders came into common use. Many recipes still state to use cream of
tartar and soda for the leavening agent, and many of them call for equal
amounts of these two ingredients. As the weight of a teaspoon of soda or
of cream of tartar is practically the same, an excess of soda is left in the
baking mixture when equal measures of the two are used, for by weight
188 parts of cream of tartar combine with 84 parts of soda to form 18
parts of water, 44 parts of carbon dioxide, and 210 parts of sodium potas-
sium tartrate. These proportions by measure are approximately 2^4 tea-
spoons of cream of tartar to a teaspoon of soda.
KHC4H4O6 + NaHCOa > NaKC4H406 + H2O + CO2
potassium tartrate soda sodium potassium water carbon
or cream of tartar tartrate or dioxide
Roclielle salts
450 BATTERS AND DOUGHS
Baking Powder
Hart states that baking powder was first used in England about 1830.
It was made of "pearlash and alum, and later of sesquicarbonate of am-
monia." When crystalline substances were mixed with soda, a wider use
was insured for baking powder, for with the dry salts, reactions of the
baking powder did not take place until it was moistened, and the alkaline
and acid substances could be kept in the same container.
The ideal baking powder. Hart states that "From the standpoint
of the consumer, the ideal baking powder (a) gives the most gas for the
least volume and weight of powder; (b) gives the gas slowly when cold
and increasingly in the cooking dough, so the dough may be mixed cold
and left standing several hours; begins to generate gas in quantity in the
oven and ceases to generate when it would rupture the crumb; (r) leaves a
tasteless and absolutely harmless residue in the bread; (d) is cheap; (e)
keeps well. The chemicals should not react on one another in the can and
thus lose strength."