Baking soda, it's also sodium bicarbonate, has been known for its properties since ancient times. To prepare a flour dough, it was used by the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, although the exact chemical formula of soda was determined only in the XVIII century. Even people who do not know how to cook, know that it's hard to find the best baking powder for dough than soda. But the properties of sodium hydrogencarbonate useful in cooking are not limited to this.
- If the dough is still hard, soda can partially soften it. It is this effect that gives sodium bicarbonate in the composition of semi-finished products - ready-made baking mixes. All the necessary ingredients in the test are already present, and the cook does not have to worry about the conformity of the ingredients to the specified proportions or prescription. It is enough to dilute the mixture with water.
- Soda is often used in the preparation of omelets. Thanks to the addition of this component, the dish is much better baked and becomes more lush.
- Sodium bicarbonate helps when cooking legumes. As you know, cooking a dish of beans takes a long time. Adding a tiny amount of soda when cooking, for example, beans, speeds up the cooking process and, as a result, significantly reduces the time spent.
- Washing vegetables with a weak solution of soda improves their appearance, eliminates the effects of long-term storage and partially removes nitrates from them. It is especially recommended to process potatoes in this way, which as a result becomes much lighter.
- Baking soda helps to give softness to hard meat. Before heat treatment of deliberately complex proteins( "old" beef, buffalo meat, elk, etc.), soak the prepared piece in a weak soda solution. This manipulation will soften the meat and improve the overall taste of the dish.
- Adding a small amount of soda to tea or coffee gives the drink a transparency and aroma. True, it is important not to overdo it - there is a risk that such a course will seriously change the taste, and the resulting mixture will just be unpleasant to drink.
Also soda is very helpful in everyday life, especially when it comes to disinfecting any surface, in the garden and in the suburban area, the consumption of soda inside in small amounts improves health( the effect depends on the person), in general, this substance is veryuseful and, importantly, extremely cheap.