Baking soda is a base. It is also known as sodium bicarbonate or bicarbonate soda and is widely known for doing some significant things.
Baking soda is primarily used in recipes that contain acidic ingredients such as citrus juice, buttermilk, or vinegar.
There is a lot more to baking soda than it meets the eyes. I am going to explain further what it is used for.
Table of Contents
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Some of the common uses of baking powder are:
Calm Indigestion
A quarter teaspoon of baking soda can be used to zap the acid in your stomach. Though acids cause not all kinds of indigestion, you can visit your doctor if symptoms persist.
It is advisable not to take baking soda after other medications. Since it lowers the acidity in the stomach, it can reduce your body’s rate of absorbing medicine and change how the others work. Baking soda is only meant for adult use.
Keep your mouth healthy
When you brush your teeth with toothpaste with baking soda, it benefits your mouth. Baking soda helps to reduce tooth decay.
It keeps your mouth and gums in good shape. The mouth encounters millions of microorganisms from the water and food we eat.
Baking soda is a base that comes into contact with these microorganisms, and it kills them by destroying their structure.
When you drink a half teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water, it will help refresh your breath.
Control odor
The majority of bad smells are from strong acids such as sour milk or strong bases such as spoiled fish.
You change the Ph balance by adding baking soda to them and neutralizing the odors.
You can try it yourself at home. I use it to control odors in my fridge and carpet. Put a box of soda in your fridge, sprinkle it over the garbage or toss it into the bottom of your dishwater and you will not notice any odors.
Ways baking Soda can improve your Cooking
Below are some of the culinary uses of baking soda.
Snappier shrimp. When cooking shrimp cocktail, shrimp scampi, or shrimp skewers, baking soda works wonders. Baking soda gives shrimp a crispier and snappier texture.
Whether poaching or searing, baking soda will improve your cooking. Baking soda is basic and it raises the Ph and it increases the speed of Maillard reaction, which is the chemical process responsible for flavors of browned and cooked foods.
A quarter teaspoon of baking soda should be for every quarter pound of shrimp.
Faster browning onions. I promise you will love what baking soda does to onions. Every pound of sliced onions requires a quarter of baking soda, which yields quickly.
It gives onions a synonymous browning which you expect from onions that have caramelized for hours.
To help you cut down on your cooking time, you should use baking soda alongside other ingredients.
Balancing the acidity of canned tomatoes. Canned tomatoes are not consistent when it comes to acidity.
Sometimes, you will experience highly acidic tomatoes, and other times you will experience low acidity levels depending on the brand. It takes a quarter teaspoon of baking soda to neutralize the acidity.
It will not impact the flavor or the texture. This tip is also used to smoothen flavors, sauces, or purees that have been made from an aggressive batch of canned tomatoes.
Softer beans for a smoother hummus. Baking soda is the most efficient and fastest way to soften beans. It will raise the cooking liquid’s alkaline levels, making the chickpeas tenderize quickly.One teaspoon of baking soda should be used for six cups of cold water. Also, you can soak the beans overnight with baking soda to make them softer.
Turning spaghetti into noodles. Noodles get their yellow color and springy texture from an alkaline solution.
Surprisingly, when you add baking soda to a boiling pot of spaghetti, you will get similar results to that of noodles.
The spaghetti will resemble ramen noodles in every possible way. However, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind.
Don’t fill the pot to the brim, be careful with the amount of baking soda you will add to your spaghetti.
It is important to stick with only two teaspoons of baking soda for every quarter cup of water.
Conclusion
Baking soda is a base that offers numerous health benefits and has innumerable applications, including cooking and manufacturing.
It is important to be careful when dealing with baking soda because it might end up putting your health at risk.
The above do’s are only the tip of the iceberg of what you can expect from baking soda.
__TVE_SHORTCODE_RAW___Hi all! I’m Cora Benson, and I’ve been blogging about food, recipes and things that happen in my kitchen since 2019.