Click here to ask a Web Chef  a question.

name: Mary

Question: What does cream of tartar
do in a cookie recipe?

Web Chefs:From Stephen Block

Cream of Tartar is used in cookies mainly as a substitute for baking powder. Baking powder is mainly a combination of cream of Tartar and Baking soda. You can use as a substitute for Baking powder 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar.

Interesting facts about cream of Tartar

From this website
http://www.foodreference.com/html/fcreamoftartar.html

Tartaric acid is a brownish-red acid powder (potassium bitartrate) that is precipitated onto the walls of casks used to age wine. When refined into a white acid powder, ‘cream of tartar’, it is used in baking.

Cream of tartar is an acid powder. Combined with baking SODA it makes baking POWDER.

Cream of tartar is also used to give a creamier texture to sugary things like candy and frosting and to stabilize and increase the volume of beaten egg whites.

Cream of tartar can be used to clean brass and copper cookware.

from this web site
http://www.wackyuses.com/wf_cream.html
Cream of Tartar is derived from argol, the crude tartar sediment deposited on the sides of casks during winemaking.

Cream of Tartar is also called potassium bitartrate and has the chemical formula KHC4H4O6

Cream of Tartar is also used to manufacture baking soda, to tin-plate metals, and as a laxative in medicine.

Cream of Tartar has an indefinite shelf life if kept tightly closed and stored away from heat.

McCormick & Company obtains its supply of Cream of Tartar from Italy, where very small people crawl through the very small holes in open wine casks to scrape out the residue left after the wine has been fermented and drained out.

McCormick & Company¹s seasonings are sold under the McCormick brand name in the eastern U.S., the Schilling brand in the West, and under the Club House label in Canada.

"McCormick" and "Schilling" are registered trademarks of McCormick & Company, Incorporated.

Back to Top

Web Chefs | Meet the Web Chefs | Kitchen Projects |