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Citric Acid uses


andiesenji

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Yes. You can use both ascorbic acid and citric acid together and in fact many food manufacturers do because ascorbic acid is bitter and the citric acid masks this bitterness.

Use just a tiny amount - an eighth of a teaspoon total.

Split your dough after the initial mixing and add the stuff to one part so you will have a control to see and taste the difference.

Ascorbic acid is much more effective at stopping the browning of fruits and vegetables but I don't like the bitter flavor that my type of processing simply can't remove so I use the citric acid, just a stronger solution.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Yes. You can use both ascorbic acid and citric acid together and in fact many food manufacturers do because ascorbic acid is bitter and the citric acid masks this bitterness.

Use just a tiny amount - an eighth of a teaspoon total.

Split your dough after the initial mixing and add the stuff to one part so you will have a control to see and taste the difference.

Ascorbic acid is much more effective at stopping the browning of fruits and vegetables but I don't like the bitter flavor that my type of processing simply can't remove so I use the citric acid, just a stronger solution.

So this morning I added the smallest pinch of each to a simple dough (500 grams flour)and it is apparent that the rise is greater than normal and the dough better holds its shape in the forming process. I did not do the control but I know this dough well so can attest to the difference just a pinch of each makes. Taste will have to come later when the bread is fully baked and cooled. Thank you.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

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"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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  • 4 months later...

I keep several acids on hand (citric, malic, ascorbic, succinic, tartaric, lactic), most of which I mainly use as balancing agents. If you know or can find the acid profile of an ingredient, you can restore a lot of it's fresh flavor after processing/cooking with acid solutions.

I'm curious to hear about different characteristics of these acids. I've got citric and tartaric in the pantry, but not the others.

Notes from the underbelly

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm under the weather today and had a craving for a cup of soothing lemon tea, but no lemons in the house. A pinch of citric acid gave it the bit of tartness that I was craving. I see there's a couple of cordial recipes in recipe gullet that use it (I think they're Darrienne's) - looking forward to trying them this summer.

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  • 3 months later...

I picked up a bottle of citric acid in Canada over the summer, intended to use it to make fresh cheese. I still haven't used it for that purpose yet - I can't find a reliable source online easily to tell me what proportions to use.

I did, however, use a shake in my hummus last night, after reading about it in the ready-to-eat hummus topic, when my lemons didn't juice up enough. I was also making a batch of Jaymes's salsa up, since we were having guests over, and a shake into that did wonders as well.

It's great to have this in my cupboard, because I don't have a reliable source of lemons always.

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That's what I did, actually. I'm not sure that's the best method, but it seemed the most direct, since I didn't want to add any more liquid to the hummus. The bottle came with a shaker top, so I guess I took my cue from that.

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Bought some Citric acid at my local home brew supplier. I used it for Ricotta from the local Organic and certified Raw Milk dairy. Made great cheese. Thanks for all these other uses.

edit: no matter how dear I hold milk. it still is not deary.

Edited by RobertCollins (log)

Robert

Seattle

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