Baking is always a fun family activity and not one that you would immediately associate with Vynova’s product portfolio. However, potassium derivatives from Vynova play a hidden, but important, role in making your baking a mouth-watering success.
Let’s take a look at the potassium derivatives most commonly found in home baking and baking ingredients and how they contribute to your baking feats.
An often vital element in many baking recipes is the use of a leavening agent that helps the dough our batter to rise. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is commonly used for this purpose, but potassium bicarbonate is a good alternative, in particular if you want to reduce your sodium intake.
Potassium bicarbonate is widely considered to be one of the best substitutes for baking soda as it offers the same leavening capabilities. However, it does not contain any of the sodium found in baking soda, so it is recommended for people who have heart or circulatory issues, or those who are attempting to limit their consumption of sodium.
Potassium bicarbonate is produced by reacting potassium carbonate - manufactured by Vynova - with carbon dioxide, then followed by recrystallization. It works by producing carbon dioxide to raise baked products for a light, airy texture in cakes, biscuits, doughnuts, pancakes, and waffles.
Whether chocolate is an occasional indulgence or a regular treat for you, chocolate owes its enhanced taste to alkali salts like potassium carbonate. By adding potassium carbonate to cocoa powder, the cocoa’s natural acidity is reduced so it tastes less bitter and sour, and more melt-in-the-mouth delicious, especially when used in home baking. Read our earlier blog post to find out more about how potassium carbonate contributes to better tasting chocolate.
Potassium carbonate is also important if you prefer the taste of dried fruit to chocolate. When berries and grapes ripen, a waxy layer forms on the fruit’s surface, the fruit softens, and the taste changes from sour to sweet. After harvesting, the berries are cleaned, washed, selected, and sorted, before undergoing a pre-treatment to accelerate the dehydration process. This pre-treatment involves potassium carbonate which removes the waxy layer to initiate a controlled and time-optimized drying process.
Vynova potassium hydroxide (KOH) is at the root of all potassium derivatives mentioned in this blog post. KOH itself is also used in food and beverage applications, as a food thickener, a pH control agent and a food stabilizer. Potassium hydroxide is synthetic, vegan and gluten-free.
Further up the food value chain, potassium hydroxide solution and potassium carbonate solution are also used in liquid complex fertilizers to grow crops such as sugar beet and sugarcane, the source of sugar used in cooking, especially baking.
Preventing mould, yeast, and microbes to form, is crucial to extending shelf-life of food and beverages. Potassium sorbate is a commonly used food preservative that does exactly that. It is often found in cakes and icings, beverage syrups, cheese, dried fruit, margarine, pie fillings, wine, and baked goods.
Potassium sorbate is produced by neutralizing sorbic acid with potassium hydroxide. Like potassium hydroxide, it is synthetic, vegan and gluten-free.
It’s clear: from sweet pastry to dried fruits, chocolate treats and light, airy cakes: potassium derivatives play their part in making your baking adventures a success!
Vynova is a leading European supplier of potassium derivatives with manufacturing sites in Belgium and France. Our potassium derivatives are used in numerous applications that benefit health and improve our quality of life – like potassium derivatives used for baking. Find out more about potassium derivatives from Vynova or contact one of our sales representatives here.
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