Food & Nutrition

Use citric acid for a clean, quick sourness in most drinks, jams and sweets. Malic acid gives a smoother, longer-lasting sourness and suits sour confectionery and fruit drinks, often blended with citric. Fumaric acid is very sour and non-hygroscopic but dissolves poorly in water, so it suits dry mixes. Lactic acid is mild and suits dairy-style and pickled products, and phosphoric acid is the usual acid in colas.

TBHQ is usually preferred for vegetable frying oils, vanaspati and fried snacks, because it is highly effective in unsaturated vegetable oils and survives frying well enough to carry protection into the fried product. BHA is more volatile at frying temperatures and is often combined with other antioxidants in fats, baked goods and cereals. Both may be used only within the limits the FSSAI food additive regulations set for each food category, so check the category first.

Sodium bicarbonate releases carbon dioxide only when it reacts with an acid in the presence of water. A fast acid such as monocalcium phosphate releases most of its gas within minutes of mixing, so it suits batters and short bakes; slower acids are blended in when the gas must keep coming in the oven. Too much soda for the acid leaves a soapy taste. Ammonium carbonate needs no acid and breaks down fully into gas in thin, dry biscuits.

Potassium iodate is more stable than potassium iodide when salt is moist, impure, warm or exposed to light, so less iodine is lost between the salt works and the kitchen. WHO guidance favours iodate wherever salt cannot be kept dry and cool, which describes most Indian conditions. FSSAI sets minimum iodine levels of 30 ppm at manufacture and 15 ppm at consumer level, so producers dose with a margin for losses in storage.