![]() ![]() While developing those lofty Japanese Soufflé Pancakes, Molly quickly realized how integral a stabilizer was to create the perfect pancake texture. You technically could - egg whites will still whip to stiff peaks without cream of tartar - but we highly recommend including it whenever it’s called for in a recipe. ![]() Photography by Rick Holbrook Food Styling by Kaitlin WayneĪ mile-high stack of Japanese Soufflé Pancakes is made possible thanks to cream of tartar. She recently used cream of tartar while developing a recipe for Japanese Soufflé Pancakes, which have a meringue base that’s essential to achieving their characteristic cloud-like texture, and notes, “I tried a batch of soufflé pancakes with too much cream of tartar (1 teaspoon) and they were awful - straight to the compost!” “Too much cream of tartar will impart a metallic, tin-like taste,” Molly warns. Keep in mind that more cream of tartar doesn’t necessarily mean a better, more stable result. “It’s something that will give me a stronger, more consistent, more stable product - if I have access to it, I will always use it.” (Who doesn’t?) “I think of it as baking insurance,” says Senior Recipe Developer Molly Marzalek-Kelly. The short answer: yes, if you want to ensure a better final product. Is cream of tartar necessary to whip egg whites? David adds that you can mix it with baking soda to create baking powder if you’re in a pinch or use it to prevent crystallization in syrups and candies, such as caramel. This baking staple has more uses than just stabilizing egg whites, however. “Weak acids, such as cream of tartar, stabilize egg white foams by lowering pH, which increases the stability of the foam,” explains Baker’s Hotline Specialist David Binkley. You’ll most commonly see cream of tartar in recipes that require whipping egg whites, where it’s included to provide support. A fine white powder you’ll often find in the spice aisle of the grocery store, it’s a byproduct from the fermentation stage of wine, where it crystallizes inside wine barrels. The tools section may contain affiliate links to products we know and love.Cream of tartar helps these Cranberry-Lime Swirled Meringues retain their cloud-like texture.ĭespite its slightly misleading name, cream of tartar, also known as potassium bitartrate, is an acid salt. I tracked the nice volunteer down, got the recipe and my snickerdoodle experimentation began. ![]() The tinny taste of the cream of tartar was intriguing but not overpowering. (I worked in politics before I became a chef, but that’s another story.) I was hesitant to eat from a stranger’s kitchen, but cookies. I first had a regular snickerdoodle when a volunteer dropped off a batch at the campaign office I was working on. Speaking of snickerdoodles (see what I did there?), my recipe for Lemon Cardamom Snickerdoodles is one of my all-time favorite cookies (besides Chocolate Chip, of course). A tiny pinch added to water also helps vegetables maintain their color when they’re blanched. It has a tinny, metallic taste that’s most noticeable in Snickerdoodle cookies. In baked goods, cream of tartar is used as a leavener, to give cakes, muffins and cookies their rise. It keeps sugar from crystallizing so it’s often used to keeps candies, frostings and meringues smooth and shiny. It’s most commonly used in whipping egg whites a pinch will give whites increased volume and make them more stable so they’re less likely to fall. You can find it in the spice section of the grocery store.Ĭream of tartar has many cooking uses. Cream of tartar, or potassium acid tartrate if you want to get chemical about it, is a fine, white powder made by purifying and grinding the crystals that form inside wine barrels during the wine-making process It’s also an ingredient in baking powder. ![]()
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