Bicarbonate of soda?

bungle73

I'm asking this here because I don't really have anywhere else to ask it. I'm trying to make a cake that calls for bicarbonate of soda. I put in what was in the cupboard from Wilkinsons, which I subsequently found out is for cleaning. Now I'm not sure if I have to chuck the whole lot away, or I could just carry on making the cake. Thoughts?

keef66

Hmm. Their label does say not to be taken internally. Chemically it should be the same as the baking product, but I suspect the manufacturing process wasn't to food grade / standards. Was it a very fine powder, or more crystalline?

If the former, I'd probably go ahead and bake / eat the thing. If the latter I'd bin it.

imposter2.0

It's basically the same stuff - although it's up to you whether you want to cook with something that has presumably been sitting in the cleaning cupboard rather than the pantry.

bungle73

keef66 wrote:

Hmm. Their label does say not to be taken internally. Chemically it should be the same as the baking product, but I suspect the manufacturing process wasn't to food grade / standards. Was it a very fine powder, or more crystalline?

If the former, I'd probably go ahead and bake / eat the thing. If the latter I'd bin it.

A powder. The more I think about it the more tempted I am to just chuck it. The only ingredient that will be wasted is 200 grams of dates. The rest was tap water.

bungle73

Imposter wrote:

It's basically the same stuff - although it's up to you whether you want to cook with something that has presumably been sitting in the cleaning cupboard rather than the pantry.

It was in the food cupboard, along with other related food products, which is why I thought it would do.

robert88

Bungle73 wrote:

Imposter wrote:

It's basically the same stuff - although it's up to you whether you want to cook with something that has presumably been sitting in the cleaning cupboard rather than the pantry.

It was in the food cupboard, along with other related food products, which is why I thought it would do.

Apropos of nothing, why did you choose your user name?

ayjaycee

Just bake the cake and eat it. If you die because of it, don't blame me and don't forget to report back so we can all learn from your mistake.

bungle73

I chucked it in the food bin.

capt_slog

Bungle73 wrote:

I chucked it in the food bin.

Why? If it was food, you'd have eaten it.

natrix

Bungle73 wrote:

The only ingredient that will be wasted is 200 grams of dates. The rest was tap water.

What sort of cake do you get from dates, bicarbonate of soda and some tap water???????????

Pross

natrix wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

The only ingredient that will be wasted is 200 grams of dates. The rest was tap water.

What sort of cake do you get from dates, bicarbonate of soda and some tap water???????????

Even from my rudimentary knowledge of baking it felt like that was missing some vital ingredients.

Matthewfalle

Bungle73 wrote:

I chucked it in the food bin.

children in africa are starving and you are chucking food in the bin.

#selfish

bungle73

Capt Slog wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

I chucked it in the food bin.

Why? If it was food, you'd have eaten it.

Where else would I have put it?

capt_slog

Normal waste. It wasn't food

bungle73

natrix wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

The only ingredient that will be wasted is 200 grams of dates. The rest was tap water.

What sort of cake do you get from dates, bicarbonate of soda and some tap water???????????

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I don't recall saying that was the entirety of the ingredients........

Pross

Bungle73 wrote:

natrix wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

The only ingredient that will be wasted is 200 grams of dates. The rest was tap water.

What sort of cake do you get from dates, bicarbonate of soda and some tap water???????????

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I don't recall saying that was the entirety of the ingredients........

So how did you avoid wasting the rest?

bungle73

Pross wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

natrix wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

The only ingredient that will be wasted is 200 grams of dates. The rest was tap water.

What sort of cake do you get from dates, bicarbonate of soda and some tap water???????????

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I don't recall saying that was the entirety of the ingredients........

So how did you avoid wasting the rest?

You mean the rest that wasn't in there yet?

Pross

Bungle73 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

natrix wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

The only ingredient that will be wasted is 200 grams of dates. The rest was tap water.

What sort of cake do you get from dates, bicarbonate of soda and some tap water???????????

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I don't recall saying that was the entirety of the ingredients........

So how did you avoid wasting the rest?

You mean the rest that wasn't in there yet?

I was always under the impression the bicarb gets mixed with the flour but like a say my baking knowledge is very limited. I'm struggling to understand the method being used if you had mixed fruit, water and bicarb though.

bungle73

Pross wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

natrix wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

The only ingredient that will be wasted is 200 grams of dates. The rest was tap water.

What sort of cake do you get from dates, bicarbonate of soda and some tap water???????????

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I don't recall saying that was the entirety of the ingredients........

So how did you avoid wasting the rest?

You mean the rest that wasn't in there yet?

I was always under the impression the bicarb gets mixed with the flour but like a say my baking knowledge is very limited. I'm struggling to understand the method being used if you had mixed fruit, water and bicarb though.

https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/dat ... alnut-cake

Pross

Bungle73 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

natrix wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

The only ingredient that will be wasted is 200 grams of dates. The rest was tap water.

What sort of cake do you get from dates, bicarbonate of soda and some tap water???????????

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I don't recall saying that was the entirety of the ingredients........

So how did you avoid wasting the rest?

You mean the rest that wasn't in there yet?

I was always under the impression the bicarb gets mixed with the flour but like a say my baking knowledge is very limited. I'm struggling to understand the method being used if you had mixed fruit, water and bicarb though.

https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/dat ... alnut-cake

Fair enough, seems weird as I always thought it's purpose was as a raising agent.

Ben6899

The bicarb' helps to break down the dates.

ayjaycee

On the basis of the performance thus far, is it even wise for you to be near the oven unsupervised?

Ben6899

This is a good article: https://www.dri-pak.co.uk/the-differenc ... e-of-soda/

You were at minimal risk, but at risk all the same.

capt_slog

Ben6899 wrote:

This is a good article: https://www.dri-pak.co.uk/the-differenc ... e-of-soda/

You were at minimal risk, but at risk all the same.

But on the up-side, we wouldn't have felt a thing.

Ben6899

I'm just upset that dates ended up in the bin.

knedlicky

Although it's not being done in the recipe Bungle73 was following, you sometimes put dried fruit (or even fresh fruit, veg or lettuce/salad) in a small bath of water with added bicarb in order to 'cleanse' the fruit/veg/salad of any unwelcome harmful substances, esp pesticides, but also tiny insects, etc.
It is especially useful to cleanse cleanse fruit/veg/salad types which are heavily treated, as it causes the harmful substances to detach more easily/more quickly from the surfaces than simply washing the fruit/veg/salad under the tap.

You add 1 teaspoon of bicarb to a litre of cold water, put the fruit/veg in the water for about 5 mins, then remove and rinse the whatever under the tap. The same litre of bicarb water can be used for 5-6 lots of whatever (one 'lot' being about 1 lettuce or 5 apples or 15 plums or 100 blueberries, etc).

I doubt if much harm would occur if you used household bicarb when washing fruit/veg, but I'd be reluctant to use household bicarb in an actual cake, when the bicarb should match food standards (basically be of a higher purity). Although I would happily use household bicarb to clean the pans I cook in and the cutlery I eat with.

Bicarb for cooking also includes an added rising agent, although pure bicarb and something sour added to the baking mixture (e.g. yoghurt, lemon juice) works just as well.
Household bicarb lacks a rising agent, as obviously unneeded, but sometimes includes added talcum powder to part counterbalance bicarb's abrasive qualities.

mouth

even though it 'seems' the same as food-safe bicarb, I probably wouldn't consume it. Household products sometimes use different anti clumping agents and such like, which aren't necessarily verified by the FSA. Alternatively, they (manufacturer) just haven't submitted their product for expensive testing and it could be perfectly safe to consume.

It's got a label on it sating don't eat. I wouldn't eat it.

redvee

ayjaycee wrote:

On the basis of the performance thus far, is it even wise for you to be near the oven unsupervised?

darkhairedlord

redvee wrote:

ayjaycee wrote:

On the basis of the performance thus far, is it even wise for you to be near the oven unsupervised?

he hasn't got that far yet.

capt_slog

knedlicky wrote:

Although it's not being done in the recipe Bungle73 was following, you sometimes put dried fruit (or even fresh fruit, veg or lettuce/salad) in a small bath of water with added bicarb in order to 'cleanse' the fruit/veg/salad of any unwelcome harmful substances, esp pesticides, but also tiny insects, etc.
.

Interesting. I've never heard of that.

But used to work with a lady who was bought up in Hong Kong. When she moved to UK (10 or so) she was at a family friend's house and was asked to help in the kitchen preparing salad, specifically washing the lettuce.

She complained to her mum that "the water wasn't pink!"

Apparently it was the practice in HK to have a bottle of potassium permanganate in a dropper bottle by the sink, and you'd put a couple of drops in the water, making it pink, and then wash anything that was going to eaten raw in that. The water can't have been very good.

pottssteve

Capt Slog wrote:

knedlicky wrote:

Although it's not being done in the recipe Bungle73 was following, you sometimes put dried fruit (or even fresh fruit, veg or lettuce/salad) in a small bath of water with added bicarb in order to 'cleanse' the fruit/veg/salad of any unwelcome harmful substances, esp pesticides, but also tiny insects, etc.
.

Interesting. I've never heard of that.

But used to work with a lady who was bought up in Hong Kong. When she moved to UK (10 or so) she was at a family friend's house and was asked to help in the kitchen preparing salad, specifically washing the lettuce.

She complained to her mum that "the water wasn't pink!"

Apparently it was the practice in HK to have a bottle of potassium permanganate in a dropper bottle by the sink, and you'd put a couple of drops in the water, making it pink, and then wash anything that was going to eaten raw in that. The water can't have been very good.

Interesting. I live in HK but haven't heard of this - presumably because these days everything is drenched in pesticides so no need to use the potassium permanganate. Mind you, you are more likely to die from the air pollution, heat exhaustion or the awful driving than badly washed lettuce. The government slaughtered 6000 pigs this weekend to contain an African swine flu outbreak from the Mainland... :roll: