Baking Soda - Aluminum Free?

[GraceFaith76]

Hi, Does anyone know if baking soda is usually processed with aluminum?
Example for baking powder I buy Rumford (Premium Aluminum-Free)...recently at my health food store I noticed that Bob's Red Mill sells Aluminum Free Baking Soda (for 3-4 times the price of plain old baking soda).  Is this a good idea to buy for cooking uses, or is all baking soda aluminum free?

I did a internet search and could not find anything.  Also on the package of Bob's Red Mill it says, "Our Baking Soda is made from the deposits of mineralized sodium bicarbonate.  It is extracted by an all-natural water process that uses no chemicals....".

Thanks for any insight.

[WithLoveAndJoy]

Baking powder consists of baking soda, one or more acid salts (cream of tartar and sodium aluminum sulfate) plus cornstarch so unless it specifies that it is aluminum free, it will contain aluminum.  HTH

[naturalgirl]

Intresting about baking powder having aluminum in it. But what about the soda? I never thought about looking into that.

[MamaSong]

Hi, Does anyone know if baking soda is usually processed with aluminum?
Example for baking powder I buy Rumford (Premium Aluminum-Free)...recently at my health food store I noticed that Bob's Red Mill sells Aluminum Free Baking Soda (for 3-4 times the price of plain old baking soda).  Is this a good idea to buy for cooking uses, or is all baking soda aluminum free?

I did a internet search and could not find anything.  Also on the package of Bob's Red Mill it says, "Our Baking Soda is made from the deposits of mineralized sodium bicarbonate.  It is extracted by an all-natural water process that uses no chemicals....".

Thanks for any insight.

I pasted a couple of articles below.  All baking soda is aluminum free or it wouldn't be sodium bicarbonate.  The process in which is made may vary, but the final result is the same.

http://www.enotes.com/how-products-encyclopedia/baking-soda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate

[WithLoveAndJoy]

ok, duhh!!!  I just assumed baking powder instead of baking soda!!!!

[GraceFaith76]

Thanks for clarifying for me that baking soda is baking soda!

Thanks again.

[arrow for God]

We stopped baking with baking powder about a year ago because my mama heard that it has aluminum in it. So we were just using baking soda, About 2 weeks ago Mama heard from a friend that baking soda does have aluminum in it too.    But that Bob's Red Mill stuff you mentioned is indeed aluminum free   So I don't. My suggestion is to research it . Hope this is a help

[BensJen]

Anyone out there make your own baking powder?  I've been wanting to mix up a batch for a while, but I'm finding a whole variety of ratios out there online. 

One recipe calls for 1/4 c. cream of tartar and 2 T. baking soda. (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/HOMEMADE-BAKING-POWDER-241184) Another says to mix 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/4 tsp cornstarch.
(http://www.recipezaar.com/Make-Your-Own-Baking-Powder-Clone-Substitute-38711)

I'm not sure which to try... does anyone have a "successful" recipe out there??

[naturalgirl]

Baking soda w/o aluminum and minus the chemecl processes that are harmful to the body is sold by Bob's red mill. I requested it to be put on our grocery shelf, and they willingly ordered it. I believe that this would be worth further study...I'll see about following up on the facts I recieved from my friend when I can. 

[natural]

Baking soda w/o aluminum and minus the chemecl processes that are harmful to the body is sold by Bob's red mill. I requested it to be put on our grocery shelf, and they willingly ordered it. I believe that this would be worth further study...I'll see about following up on the facts I recieved from my friend when I can. 

I found Bob's Red Mill Baking Powder at www.vitacost.com they used to sell Rumford at Walmart but no longer do...might be worth checking out at vitacost =0)

Sandra

[BensJen]

Thanks! 

[naturalgirl]

Hello, friends


Here's what I've found out from researching (and talking to a fellow "naturalgirl"  ). Aluminum in soda comes from being processed chemically in aluminum machinery. I sent a note to
Bob's red mill, asking them about the facts concerning soda. Here's my question to them and their reply:


My note...

Hi!

I just recently bought a bag of your aluminum-free baking soda from my local store. I talked a while ago to a friend about how baking soda is made, and she recommended that I use this instead of other brands. I remember her reasoning being sound, but I've forgotten the "why" behind it. Would you mind telling me again why you decided to make baking soda one of your products, and how it is different in process to the regular brands? How did you come up with your conclusions, and where your research came from would be great too, if you have access to that info. and are willing to pass it on. Thank you.

Their answer...

Bob's Red Mill offers a lot of baking aids to compliment our wide range of whole grain products.  All of our products we try and offer as natural as possible.  our Baking Soda comes from a natural source and is aluminum free.

 

Some other companies chemically produce their baking soda by creating a chemical reaction between soda ash and carbon dioxide.

 

Our Baking Soda is from Sodium Bicarbonate which is naturally occurring in northwestern Colorado.  In the mining process, water is used to extract the sodium bicarbonate and no chemicals are used.  A closed loop process leaves the community and its surrounding virtually untouched. 

 
Chelsea, Customer Service
Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods
1-800-349-2173
www.bobsredmill.com

An intresting and common article describing the chemical way is posted here:

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Baking-Soda.html

If you would want to do further study, I'd probably start by looking up "soda ash" and "Carbon Dioxide", just to see how they are made. From what I have seen, soda ash takes a whole bunch of process to get to the finished product. I found this http://www.sodaash.com/index/0,0,2125-_EN,00.html
to be an informative site as to how soda ash is made ready. I also found out that dry ice is the dry form of carbon dioxide...the same stuff that makes me burp when I drink pop    (found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide)
That is as far as I'm going to study on this tonight, I think. I'm not much of a chemistry freak, lol. I'm afraid I didn't understand half of what I read in there, or how it pertains to the "is baking soda just plain ol' baking soda, or is their a "healthy" kind and "not" kind?" question. Anyone else want to shed some light? Be my guest! 

[veryinteresting]

In striving for clarity, baking SODA is (by definition) sodium bicarbonate, a chemical that is extracted from the ground.  It does not contain aluminum nor is aluminum added to it in processing either by intention or through aluminum equipment. 

Baking POWDER is manufactured with baking soda as an ingredient and typically includes a compound containing aluminum.  Marketing baking soda as aluminum-free is simply a marketing strategy to play to consumers' confusion while charging more for it.  As has been noted, no baking soda has aluminum in it. 

Aluminum in baking powder has been known to contribute to a bitter taste. So switching to aluminum-free baking powder should eliminate that problem. 

[GraceFaith76]

Thank you veryinteresting for letting us know!

[anneboat]

This is an old thread, but I had to answer this.  I found this link
http://www.enotes.com/how-products-encyclopedia/baking-soda  that explains the two kinds o fbaking soda. It seems like Bob's Red Mill sells the variety that doesn't use chemicals to create it.  I'm guessing that the usual baking soda is made with the chemical intervention in which ammonia is one fo the ingredients.  I didn't see anything with regards to aluminum being used, but other things I don't really want on my skin or ingesting.