By: Hettie Basil Lighttower

Many of us will soon be busy in the kitchen making Christmas cookies and goodies for upcoming parties and events during the month of December. I am sure you have your favorite recipes that you rely on that you have down to a science! Maybe you are even known for those certain ones….. friends and family know exactly what you’ll bring when they know you’re coming. Do any of you make a good meringue pie? Made from scratch? The best meringue ever? If so, that means you are familiar with Cream of Tartar!
Cream of Tartar is a very strange word or term isn’t it? But what exactly is Cream of Tartar??? It doesn’t sound good. It actually sounds nasty. It certainly is not creamy. It is a bitter dry non-fragrant white powder that sits in your spice rack and expires before you get to use it again. I mean, unless you are an avid pie baker or snicker-doodle maker, that can of this nasty powder just takes up space where you could actually put something useful like garlic powder or seasoned salt!
But there it sits, and now it is Christmas time again and the folks are expecting snicker-doodles and lemon meringue pie, and just like last year, that can which is missing a 1/4 of a teaspoon has expired again. Off to the store you go to buy a new can because the recipe requires it of you. But what is it?
If you look up the definition of “cream of tartar” you will find it as: A white crystalline acidic compound obtained as a byproduct of wine fermentation; OR a white crystalline salt, C4 H5 KO6 used especially in baking powder and in certain treatments of metals. Woah, “treatments of metals”? Interesting. I had no idea it was in baking powder, did you? Well, that is the official and even scientific definition. But what is it? It is chemically known as potassium bitartrate also referred to as potassium hydrogen tartrate. It is a salt from a compound called tartaric acid. Hmmm…. Still mysterious and not clear as to what it is. Although, I can understand the word “salt”.
I’ve actually never tried to taste it. Maybe it IS salty instead of bitter. Have YOU tasted it plain? I guess it won’t hurt you to do that. But how does it treat metals? Goodness! It seems I have more questions than answers now at this point.
There’s a French physicist named Jean-Baptiste Biot, not to be confused with John the Baptist….who in1768 discovered this as the solids leftover from crushed grapes during the winemaking process. When hot water was added to this leftover residue and the water evaporated… crystals also, called back then “white diamonds”, would form. In 1832 he, Mr. Biot, was credited to discovering the various physical and chemical properties of these white diamonds. Then by the time 1847 rolled around Louis Pasteur, a familiar name, had explored uses for this residue and incorporated “tartar” in the common name derived from the scientific name “tartaric acid”. “Cream” possibly because it was white like cream after the white diamond crystals were crushed to a powder. I could not find a source to say that about the cream part in the name, but that is my hypothesis.
Soon it became very popular in French cooking once Louie got ahold of it and experimented in the kitchen. The rest of the world followed in this “French revolution” …… ehem….. “French revelation”. So, basically it is one grapes’ trash, is another crapes’ treasure!! Just a residue from making wine.
Now supposedly, iffen you didn’t go to the store to get that new can of cream of tartar, “they” say you can substitute one and a half teaspoon of baking soda for one teaspoon of cream of tartar in a recipe because cream of tartar these days is made up part of sodium bicarbonate(baking soda) and part tartaric acid. So, you may want to do experiments in your own kitchen to see how true that is. But in the meantime, when you are hard-pressed to get the meringue just right for the company boss, I wouldn’t try any convenient substitutes until you know for sure.
Basically, cream of tartar stabilizes egg whites and supports them to stay stiff and remain fluffy. It also adds the tangy taste we are familiar with in the meringue as well as in snicker-doodle cookies. And obviously, if the French were using it after they discovered it, and they are known for their pastries, I am sure there are so many, many other recipes out there in which this mysterious substance adds divine brilliance to.
You can add a pinch to boiling or sauteed vegetables to keep their bright color, stabilize whipped cream, make fluffy angel food cake, make colorful edible play dough, and anything that needs a little leavening. And with a look further, as for metals…… well, it can remove rust!!! Yes, a polisher on copper, brass, aluminum and even porcelain! You can mix it with hydrogen peroxide to make a paste and you have a super cleaning agent! So don’t throw that old expired box out. Polish your brass knuckles or inherited silverware instead!
Send in your notions and comments to [email protected]. I will include them in the next available column as per their arrival relative to the publication deadline of Tuesday by 12 p.m. of the same week. If you wish to be anonymous let me know. Kindness is contagious~*