How to Tell If Baking Soda and Baking Powder Are Good
At any given moment, I have at least one open box of baking soda and one open can of baking powder in my pantry, and I will never, never know how old they are. Unlike cheese or apples, none of these leavening agents provide any visual clues as to when they “went bad.” They look the same regardless of their age, but they will simply stop working , leaving behind flat unleavened cakes, cookies, and quick tortillas. Fortunately, there are two simple tests you can use to determine the effectiveness of each one.
As we discussed earlier , both baking soda and baking powder are chemical leavening agents, but they work in different ways. Baking soda is “pure sodium bicarbonate, an ionic salt with the chemical formula NaHCO 3 . It is inherently alkaline (basic) with a pH of 8 and provides the “bulk” of the acid-base reaction. ” Baking powder, on the other hand, contains both acidic and basic ingredients, which are activated when water is added. To see if baking soda works, you need to add some acid to it; To test the baking powder, add a little water.
To test your baking soda , pour three tablespoons of white vinegar into a bowl or cup, then add ½ teaspoon of baking soda. As a baking powder, add ½ teaspoon of baking powder to 3 tablespoons of water. Either way, if the solution sizzles, the baking powder is still good and you can feel safe when baking. If they don’t sizzle, it’s time to restock (and this time write the date on the new package) – although you can substitute one for the other if your sourdough needs are acute and urgent. (You can also use for either cleaning or scrubbing, as long as the cleaning is independent of a persistent acid-base reaction.) This post was originally published in 2014. It has been completely rewritten and reissued on May 3, 2021 to add more accurate information and to align with current Lifehacker style guidelines.