BAKING POWDERS. 577 



ful and desirable. This circular with its analysis has attracted so much attention 

 throughout the State and country and is of such significance as to demand a place in 

 this report, and it is therefore given here in full. 



CIRCULAR No. 6. BAKING-POWDERS. 



This commission has been for some months investigating the baking-powders of 

 commerce most generally used and sold in this State. And we herein submit to the 

 people of the State the result of that investigation. 



We have analyzed thirty brands of baking-powder, seeking those brands which 

 were apparently most generally sold throughout the State. We submit the result of 

 these analyses to the people who are the consumers of such goods that they may know 

 the true chemical character of these several varieties. 



It is generally supposed that there is a vast deal of " adulteration" in baking-pow- 

 der, but since there is at law no standard of excellence or purity in baking-powder, 

 it is difficult to say what is an adulteration, unless it be an an healthful ingredient. 



As a matter of fact, any powdered composition that is healthful and which in solu- 

 tion in moist dough will generate carbonic-acid gas and " raise " bread, or cause it to 

 be porous and light, may be properly called a bakiug-powder. And accordingly we 

 find very many varieties or brands of baking-powders on the market made from 

 widely-different materials. 



The best baking-powder is, of course, that in which (the ingredients being health- 

 ful) the largest amount of carbonic gas is generated to the spoonful of powder, and 

 the least amount and least hurtful character of the resultant salt remains in the 

 bread. 



For an intelligent view of the whole field we classify these varieties into three 

 general divisions. In each of these the active agents of the compound are kept dry, 

 and thus free from fermentation in the package, by the use of a given per cent, of 

 starch, wheat flour, or rice flour. These are used simply aa dry filling to keep the 

 chemical agents from acting upon each other in the package. 



In this classification we have 



(1) Cream of tartar baking-powders. 



(2) Phosphate baking-powders. 



(3) Alum baking-powders? 



The chemical formula and the percentages of the active agents vary with each 

 brand. But generally stated we have in the 



FIRST CLASS. 



Cream of tartar, ^Changed by chemical action in the dough to the double salt of 

 Starchorflour S tartrate of Pt a 88 ium and sodium, and carbonic-acid gas. 



The cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda, dissolved by the water or moisture in 

 the dough, unite chemically and form in the bread the double salt of tartrate of 

 potassium and sodium, and carbonic-acid gas, the latter escaping in the baking 

 heat. 



SECOND CLASS. 



cnooa Changed by chemical action into calcium phosphate, 

 Starch or flour S 8odium phosphate, and carbonic-acid gas. 



THIRD CLASS. 



BicTrbonaTe^f roda ( chan S ed bv chemical action into hydrate of aluminium, so- 

 Starch or flour S d ^ um sulphate, ammonium sulphate, and carbonic-acid gas. 



In some brands of the cream of tartar baking-powder a small per cent, of carbonate 

 of ammonia is used ; but this is considered to be too small an amount to be hurtful. 

 There is a prevalent belief created by the erroneous statement of manufacturers, that 

 the salts from which carbonic-acid gas is generated pass off in the form of escaping 

 gas, scarcely leaving a trace of their presence in the bread. But this is not true. 

 These resultant salts formed by the chemical action in the dough remain in the 

 bread, while the gas generated by such chemical action, and which is but a small per 

 cent, of the whole, alone passes off in the process of baking. 



From this fact many persons condemn the entire class of alum baking-powders as 

 being unhealthful. Pure alum is undoubtedly a hurtful salt, and the resultant salts 



