The fizz on baking soda

                        
The other day I made a batch of chocolate chip pan cookies. My husband took them to work and brought home an empty tray and many stories about the cookies. They were so moist. What was my recipe (back of the chocolate chips bag)? The building secretary had also made a batch of these cookies the night before. And the list goes on.
What started all of this? My mother. She called and said something she baked turned out flat. It tasted just fine, but didn’t look so pretty. Of course, we proceeded to dissect what went into her recipe and could any of the ingredients possibly be to blame for the flat results. What makes baked goods rise? Only a few things – baking powder, baking soda, yeast and steam. Her recipe used baking soda. Ah-ha!
After our sleuthing, she thought to check the expiration date on her box of baking soda. It had expired quite a while ago. That’s why her recipe fell flat. Here’s the scoop on baking soda, according to the Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Web site (www.armandhammer.com).
The scientific name for baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. It is a naturally occurring substance that is found in all living things, and it helps regulate their pH balance. When you use baking soda in baking, it reacts with any acidic ingredients in the recipe, such as lemon juice or buttermilk, and gives off carbon dioxide. These small bubbles of carbon dioxide in the wet batter expand in the heat of the oven, causing the product to rise. The batter then cooks around the carbon dioxide bubbles, resulting in a light and porous finished product. This process is also called leavening.
However, over time, the leavening ability of baking soda does decrease. Unfortunately, there is no easy test for determining if your baking soda is still “good” or not. One reference book I have recommends mixing 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda with 2 tablespoons of vinegar. If it fizzes, the baking soda is still able to react with an acid to make carbon dioxide. Otherwise, you should refer to the expiration date on the package. Just remember that even if your box has passed its prime, there are still lots of non-food uses for baking soda.
All this talk of baking has made me hungry. I think I’ll go find a chocolate chip cookie.
Have a question you would like answered? Call 330-674-3015, e-mail shumaker.68@osu.edu, or write to OSU Extension, Holmes County, 10 South Clay Street, Suite 102, Millersburg 44654.
Kate Shumaker, MS, RD, LD, is an Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, for Ohio State University Extension, Holmes County.


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