Cream Of Tartar? Have you ever wondered (or is it just me with these continous moments of curiosity?) To me, it is a mysterious and seldom used inhabitant of my spice rack, used mostly to bake cookies.
I bet you will be surprised to learn that Cream of Tartar is a by product of wine making. It's the acid salt of the tartaric acid, the crystallized sediment that falls to the bottom of a wine cask after fermentation. The crystalline substance that collects on it's sides are crude tartar. To refine it for commercial use, it is decrystallized in a basic solution, then recrystallized, then bleached and allowed to crystallize again. The layer of white crystals that forms on the surface of the cooling liquid is powdered to make commercial cream of tartar. Because of it's thickening properties, it is often added to egg whites when beating so they do not break.
Cream of Tartar has an indefinite shelf life if kept tightly closed and stored away from heat.
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