23 Benefits and Uses for Baking Soda
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is widely used in baking. This is because it has leavening properties, meaning it causes dough to rise by producing carbon dioxide.
Aside from cooking, baking soda has a variety of additional household uses and health benefits.
Here are 23 benefits and uses of baking soda:
- Treat Heartburn
- Mouthwash
- Soothe Canker Sores
- Whiten Your Teeth
- Deodorant
- May Improve Exercise Performance
- Relieve Itchy Skin and Sunburns
- May Treat Calluses
- May Slow the Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease
- May Improve Certain Cancer Treatments
- Neutralize Fridge Odors
- Air Freshener
- May Whiten Your Laundry
- Kitchen Cleaner
- Eliminate Garbage Odor
- Remove Stubborn Carpet Stains
- Multipurpose Bathroom Cleaner
- Clean Fruits and Veggies
- Polish Silverware
- Save a Scorched Pot
- Extinguish Oil and Grease Fires
- Homemade Weed Killer
- Shoe Deodorizer
Around The House Uses For Baking Soda
Unless baking is your trade, nobody bakes all the time. And even if you do, baking soda is not just for the purpose of baking alone. It may be beneficial to you in so many ways around the house that you never thought possible. So don’t leave it just hanging around in your shelf until you need to bake. Fish it out and let me show you how to use it to improve your life at home:
- Hair treatment
- Refrigerator deodorizer
- Teeth Whitener
- Body deodorizer
- Food stains remover
- Kitchen and bathroom cleaner
- Clean stuffed toys
- Rid your shoes of smells
- Clean crayon and other wall stains
- Carpet freshener
- Facial scrub
- Grill cleaner
- Cloth stains remover
- Rids diaper rash
- Clean burnt food stains
- Mug stain remover
- Anti-grease solution
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What’s the Difference Between Baking Soda and Baking Powder?
Baking soda and baking powder are both leavening agents, which are substances used to help baked goods rise. Experienced and amateur bakers alike often confuse them due to their similar names and appearances. This article explains the differences between baking soda and baking powder and how interchanging one for the other may affect your baked goods.
What is baking soda:
- Baking soda is a leavening agent used in baked goods like cakes, muffins, and cookies.
- Formally known as sodium bicarbonate, it’s a white crystalline powder that is naturally alkaline, or basic.
- Baking soda becomes activated when it’s combined with both an acidic ingredient and a liquid. Upon activation, carbon dioxide is produced, which allows baked goods to rise and become light and fluffy.
- This is why recipes that include baking soda will also list an acidic ingredient, such as lemon juice or buttermilk.
What is baking powder:
- Unlike baking soda, baking powder is a complete leavening agent, meaning it contains both the base (sodium bicarbonate) and acid needed for the product to rise.
- Cornstarch is also typically found in baking powder. It’s added as a buffer to prevent the acid and base from activating during storage.
- Similarly to how baking soda reacts with water and an acidic ingredient, the acid in baking powder reacts with sodium bicarbonate and releases carbon dioxide once it’s combined with a liquid.
- Single and double-acting baking powders are available, though single-acting varieties are typically only used by food manufacturers and not usually available for household use.
- When a recipe calls for baking powder, it’s most likely referring to the double-acting kind.
- This means the powder creates two separate reactions: initially, when combined with liquid at room temperature, and secondly, once the mixture is heated.
- For many recipes, an extended reaction is favorable, so the leavening, or rising, doesn’t happen all at once.
