But the real question is: what does it do? It actually speeds up the formation of bubbles in a liquid, creating a stable, yet aerated consistency. You may be familiar with cream of tartar if you’ve made pavlovas, meringues, and even some cakes and cookies. This is because they’re a natural source of tartaric acid, which is its primary ingredient. Although derived from the winemaking process, it’s all thanks to grapes that cream of tartar exists. But we never knew it’s where cream of tartar comes from! A byproduct of wine-making, cream of tartar is a dry, powder-like, acidic sediment that is left behind during fermentation.

We love wine for a variety of reasons it’s great for cooking, great for drinking, and some even use it as disinfectant. What is cream of tartar made from? Long answer short: grapes! If this is the case, then you can simply replace both the soda and the cream of tartar with equal amounts of baking powder.Isn’t it odd that cream of tartar is likely a staple in every baker’s pantry, yet most of us don’t even know what it really is? We were reorganising our baking drawer when we came across our trusty container of cream of tartar and wondered, what is this even made of? And, how does it work? So we did a deep dive into all things ‘cream of tartar’ and what we discovered is totally not what we expected. Most recipes that call for cream of tartar will also call for baking soda, as these two create a chemical reaction that helps give cakes and cookies that light, fluffy texture. The other substitution is much more palatable. Just make be careful of using this method in sweet treats, as the vinegar could impact the taste of the final product. First, you can replace cream of tartar with an equal amount of lemon juice or white vinegar. If you’re in the middle of a recipe and you’re blindsided by needing a pinch of cream of tartar and don’t have any on hand, I’ve got you covered! There are a few substitutions that will do the trick. The end result is fluffier frosting and smoother syrups. In the case of frostings, icings, and syrups, you can add a little bit of cream of tartar to prevent the sugar from crystallizing. When making whipped cream, you can add a quarter of a teaspoon of cream of tartar to each cup of heavy cream before you whip it to keep the whipped cream from deflating! There are other uses for this mysterious stuff. You can find cream of tartar in angel food cake recipes, souffle recipes, even some pancake recipes! And, as I learned, you can also find it in snickerdoodle recipes.Įven if a recipe does not specify cream of tartar, California pastry chef Alice Medrich suggests adding a half of a teaspoon per cup, or a quarter of a teaspoon for every four egg whites. The cream of tartar not only stabilizes the egg whites, but it helps with the light, fluffy texture of the final product. Let’s move on to what purpose it serves in baking! Why is it used? WikimediaĬream of tartar is best known as a leavening agent, especially for recipes that call for egg whites. The scientific answer is that cream of tartar is potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate. The short version is that cream of tartar is a byproduct of winemaking, and it helps leaven and balance out recipes. It’s also worth noting that it has no relation to tartar sauce, not that I also made that mistake while looking for my mystery ingredient. We now know that cream of tartar isn’t a cream, and it doesn’t come in a jar. Now that we’ve got that cleared up, let’s jump into some interesting cream of tartar facts. FYI, it’s in the spice aisle, and it’s not creamy at all. Like cream of mushroom soup, right? Right? Wrong.

Having no idea what I was looking for, I searched high and low for some sort of tartar cream that I assumed came in a jar or can. I’ve baked a lot of cakes and most kinds of cookies in my life, but I never had a use for cream of tartar until I had to whip up a batch of snickerdoodle cookies. I’ll be honest, I first came across a recipe that used cream of tartar back in college.

Cream of tartar