Quite often in culinary recipes There is an instruction to “sprinkle the dish (mainly salads) with lemon juice.” Citrus fruits are generously added to baked goods. Kislenky lemon juice makes it less cloying. Citrons are added to both dough and creams. The zest is also used exotic fruit, and candied pieces of pulp and skin. But most often the ingredient in dishes is lemon juice. It is added both to soups (for example, solyanka) and to drinks - tea, alcoholic and refreshing cocktails. This article is devoted to one question: is it possible to use acid? And if so, how to introduce white crystals into a dish? What are the proportions? What needs to be done to make the dish taste as if it contained natural lemon juice? You will read about this below.

What is citric acid

What exactly is this white crystalline powder? Undoubtedly, this is a synthetic material. And before we clarify the question of whether lemon juice can be replaced with citric acid, we must establish the connection between these two products. Does synthetic powder have anything in common with citrus fruits? Citric acid was first extracted in history by the Swedish pharmacist Karl Scheele in 1784. How did he get it? He isolated it from the juice of unripe lemons. As you can see, there is a direct connection between these products. The resulting powder is a tribasic carboxylic acid. It dissolves perfectly in water when it reaches at least eighteen degrees. Lemon acid also fits well with ethyl alcohol. Therefore, it can be used to make homemade tinctures and vodkas. But the powder is poorly soluble in diethyl ether.

Industrial production of citric acid

Any reasonable person will ask: if the powder is extracted from citrus fruits, then why is it so much cheaper than fruit? After all, the eighteenth-century apothecary evaporated natural juice to get white crystals. Then they began to add shag biomass to lemon juice. This plant also contains a large number of this acid. In modern times, industrial production produces powder by biosynthesis from molasses and sugar using strains mold Citric acid is used not only in cooking, but also in medicine (including to improve metabolism), cosmetology (as an acidity regulator) and even construction and the oil industry. The global production volume is more than one and a half million tons. And about half of this amount is produced in China. In light of this, the question of whether it is possible to replace lemon juice with citric acid seems even more relevant. Especially if the label says: “Made in China.”

Benefits of citric acid

Synthetic powder is widely used in the food industry and is labeled as E330-E333. But is this completely safe? flavoring agent, is it possible to replace lemon juice with citric acid without harm to the body? The powder is used in Food Industry, not only to improve the taste of the product. Citric acid prevents the development of microorganisms, mold and unpleasant odor. Therefore, E330 is also used as a preservative. Despite the fact that citric acid is no longer extracted from fruits, it, like citrus fruits, improves vision, strengthens the immune system and has a positive effect on the digestive system. Since it speeds up metabolism, it is used in diets to reduce excess weight. This substance removes toxins, waste, and harmful salts from the body.

Harm of citric acid

Not all people can tolerate citrus fruits. These fruits can cause an allergic reaction. Likewise, citric acid is unacceptable to some people. It should be used with caution by patients with gastritis and stomach ulcers. But we wondered: can citric acid replace lemon juice? The time has come to answer it. Yes maybe. But in the case of powder, care must be taken not to make the solution too concentrated. After all, then this can lead to discomfort in the stomach, heartburn, colic and vomiting. Undissolved powder should not be eaten as it causes burns to the mucous membranes.

Subtropical fruits cannot be called cheap. And most recipes only require a couple of drops or a teaspoon of lemon juice. The rest sits in the refrigerator for a long time, dries and withers. Whereas citric acid in a bag can be stored for years. And it costs mere pennies. That's why experienced housewives when asked whether citric acid can replace lemon juice, the answer is usually: “Yes! And vinegar too! You can also use it to wash dirty limescale and rust on metal surfaces.”

As for cooking, the range of dishes in which you can use both citrus juice and citric acid is quite wide. If you are kneading the dough, you can mix a small amount of synthetic powder with flour. In other cases, the acid crystals must be dissolved in warm water until the concentration of regular lemon juice is reached. The proportions are like this. A small pinch (some recipes recommend on the tip of a knife) per fifty milliliters of warm water. The solution should be cooled.

To clear washing machine from scale, take 100 g of citric acid and pour it into the compartment for washing powder. Then turn on the washing machine in boiling mode at 95°C (do not load laundry into the drum). This procedure is recommended to be carried out no more than 2 times a year. This method of descaling a washing machine is unacceptable if the drum is covered with enamel.

Deal with greasy stains microwave oven can be done using a solution prepared from 200 ml of warm water and 1 tsp. citric acid. The cup with this composition is placed in a microwave oven and the device is turned on at full power for 13-15 minutes. After this, wipe the walls of the microwave oven with a damp cloth: not a trace of dirt and grease will remain.

To clean the hole on the iron, it is recommended to dissolve 23-25 ​​g of citric acid in a glass of warm water and pour this solution into the water tank. Then set the temperature regulator to maximum and clean the iron by pressing the steam button. After this procedure, it is necessary to clean the tank from the citric acid solution: for this purpose, pour into this compartment 2-3 times clean water and drain it.

Cleaning a kettle and aluminum pans with citric acid

To clean the kettle from plaque, you need to pour water into a container (pour enough water so that it covers the plaque formed on the walls of the dish) and add 30 g of citric acid. Then the kettle is placed on the stove and the solution is brought to a boil, then, reducing the heat to low, the mixture is boiled until the scale begins to peel away from the walls of the dish. Next, drain the solution, fill the kettle with clean water and boil it (this water also needs to be drained).

In addition, citric acid helps get rid of: to do this, place an aluminum frying pan or kettle in the solution (take 1 tablespoon of citric acid per 1 liter of water) and boil the dishes for 13-15 minutes. After this, carefully scrape off the carbon deposits. If necessary, repeat the cleaning procedure.

Citric acid in nutrient solutions for flowers

Cut chrysanthemums will last longer in a vase if they are placed in a nutrient solution prepared from 1 liter of water, 0.1 g of citric acid and 50 g of sugar. A nutrient solution can also be prepared for roses. Its recipe is as follows: 40 g of sugar is dissolved in a liter of water and 0.2 g of citric acid is added, after which roses are placed in the solution.

Use of citric acid in cooking

In cooking, citric acid is used as an acidity regulator: it not only gives a pleasant sour taste to food, but also acts as an antioxidant. Bookmark norm for this food additives in sauces - 1 g per liter, in dishes - 0.05 g per serving.

Citric acid also extends the shelf life of products, which is why it is used in home canning. In addition, if you add citric acid, chicken proteins it’s better to whip up, and puff pastry will become more elastic: knowing these tricks, it is easier to prepare culinary masterpieces.

Very famous and useful product- lemon acid. There is always one or two bags of lemon juice in every home. But first, nevertheless, we will pay attention to the second word - this is acid! Like all acids, it requires careful and careful handling.

What harm can be caused by careless handling of citric acid?

Citric acid – crystalline powder white, light bulk product. It does not look like flour, but it is quite possible to confuse it with salt or sugar. So keep this the right product separately, away and in a labeled, well-closed container to avoid unpleasant and harmful situations, for example:

• They accidentally spilled it while taking it out from the top shelf, got scared and took a breath. Once on the mucous membranes, concentrated citric acid can cause severe irritation of the respiratory tract.
• A child mistaking the powder for sweet sugar, licked or tasted with a spoon. A burn to the esophagus or gastric mucosa is a serious poisoning that requires medical attention.
• We scrubbed off plaque and rust in the bathroom with citric acid without gloves and ended up with a chemical burn to the skin.

The everyday practice of users will suggest a number of other situations, dangerous for the human body. But, despite the harm that citric acid can cause if careless or misuse, humanity does not refuse this valuable and useful product.

What is citric acid made from?

Citric acid was first isolated by a self-taught chemist from Sweden, Karl Wilhelm Scheele, who worked in a pharmacy all his life and made many research discoveries in pharmacy. Historians even know exact time of this event - 1784. The name of the substance was quite justified: Karl Wilhelm Scheele isolated it from unripe lemons.

Over the past two hundred years, chemists have discovered that this substance present in many fruits and plants. Humanity has used the beneficial properties of citric acid since the times when the substance had not yet been isolated in pure form. Lemon juice and zest were used in cooking. Ladies used lemon slices to whiten freckles and age spots. Doctors prescribed lemon tea for colds and other illnesses.

Scientists and practitioners were constantly looking for ways industrial obtaining the product, since the yield from plant materials was small. The discovery in 1891 by the German scientist Wemer of the ability of moldy fungi to produce organic acids gave rise to the microbiological production of this necessary substance.

Since the 1930s, citric acid has been produced biochemically from a strain of the mold Aspergillus niger. The raw material basis for such production is beet or cane molasses (sugar production waste).

Since 1953 in Europe, and since 1978 in Russia, labeling of food additives was introduced and purified citric acid received the E330 marker.

Chemical composition citric acid is unlikely to interest the average reader. Specialists, if necessary, will find it in Wikipedia or other specialized sources.

Let's move on to the most extensive sections of the article, talking about the benefits and application. It should be immediately clarified: since the substance is widely used and produced in industrial scale, then to say that it is useful is unnecessary. Therefore the next section will be called:

Use of food additive E330-citric acid

In the food industry

Citric acid is one of the acidity regulators and preservatives. In baked goods, this product is used as a leavening agent, which adds fluffiness to baked goods.

Food additive E330 and its salts E331-E333 (citrates) are widely used in the production of many types of products and contained:

In the chemical and pharmaceutical industry

• When preserving blood and its components to prevent clotting.
• In the manufacture of solutions and medicines for the treatment of diathesis, for dissolving kidney stones, diuretics, cough syrups.

In the cosmetics industry

The drug has a whitening effect, the ability to narrow skin pores, and normalize the acid-base balance skin.

Thanks to these and others beneficial properties additive E330 in the cosmetic industry is used for manufacturing:

In other industrial technologies

Citric acid, its salts and esters are widely used in many other industrial technologies, for example;

• in offset printing technology;
• in electroplating and electronics;
• in compositions for cleaning metal surfaces;
• in construction technologies in the production and use of concrete.

Using citric acid in everyday life: benefits and harms

If in industrial production Since the safety of the use of active chemical compounds, which includes citric acid, is monitored by specialized services, then in everyday life this safety depends on the consumer, his attentiveness when studying the attached instructions, accuracy and caution when using the product.

Medicinal use

Citric acid in medicinal purposes taken in the form of an aqueous solution or tea. The daily dose of the drug is taken in 3 doses half an hour before meals. You can add honey to acidified water. Daily dose citric acid for an adult is 60 mg per 1 kg of weight, but not more than 5 grams (level teaspoon).

Citric acid solution will not replace medications prescribed by the doctor, but will have a healing effect on your body.

Medicinal properties of lemon water:

1. Normalizes work gastrointestinal tract, stimulating gastric juice secretion, has a slight laxative effect. Helps remove toxins from the body.
2. Lowers blood sugar levels. Used by patients with diabetes.
3. Cleanses cardiovascular system and helps lower blood pressure.
4. Having the property of breaking down fats, it is used in the fight against excess weight.
5. Used to treat throat infections as a gargle.

Carefully!

An overdose of citric acid when preparing a medicinal solution can cause nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, and in more serious poisoning, fever, bloody stools, and increased blood pressure.

Lemon water contraindicated patients with stomach ulcers or gastritis - this can cause an exacerbation of the disease.

Application in home cosmetology

A 2% solution of citric acid is used in home cosmetology as a bleaching agent

1. When removing age spots and freckles.
2. When removing plaque from teeth.

Carefully!

An overdose of the drug when preparing a bleaching solution can cause burn skin, lead to thinning and softening of tooth enamel and the development of carious processes.

Rinse your hair with a solution of citric acid, prepared at the rate of 4 grams (half a teaspoon) per 1 liter of water, giving it silkiness and softness.

Use in home cooking and canning

Many recipes homemade baked goods and homemade preparations include citric acid. It helps make the dough fluffy. Gives the preparations a pleasant sourness, prevents the proliferation of spores and fungi, preserving the product for a long time.

Household use

The property of citric acid to break down calcium compounds use:

• When descaling teapots.

Carefully! If one of the family members unknowingly swallows this solution, they will receive a serious burn to the esophagus and gastric mucosa.

• When cleaning an automatic washing machine.

Carefully! With frequent use, the citric acid solution corrodes the rubber parts of the machine.

• When removing rust, when abrasives cannot be used

Carefully! Keep cleaning items or surfaces away from your eyes and wear gloves.

Citric acid is a useful and necessary product in our lives. As can be seen from the article, the main harm is associated only with an overdose when taken orally or big amount concentrated solution that gets on the skin or mucous membranes. When used correctly and carefully, this food supplement is completely safe for the human body.

Citric acid is needed exclusively for the procedure. It is added in the amount of 4 grams per 1 kg of sugar and 1 liter of water. The raw material for fermentation is sugar, grain or fruit.

When using citric acid, do not allow it to come into contact with the mucous membranes of the body.

Opinions vary, but advantages sugar syrup much more than regular granulated sugar.

Using inversion, you can save several days of fermentation and get a higher quality distillate.

• Fermentation goes faster.
• Less is formed harmful substances in mash.
• Moonshine is of higher quality.

Acid allows you to avoid bringing water to a boil, thereby saving gas and the moonshiner’s time.

After all, sugar is not inverted for only one objective reason - this procedure requires time and effort.

Home brew recipe with citric acid

For the recipe we will use regular mash with sugar and yeast. Hydromodule 1 to 4, the most classic moonshine brewing.

• Sugar - 5 kg.
• Water - 20 liters.
• Alcoholic yeast - 100 grams.
• Citric acid - 20 grams.

Before mixing all the ingredients, you will need to turn the granulated sugar into sugar syrup.

This is done using technology Sanych's moonshine, no boiling.

Preparing mash and distilling into moonshine

Yield of 40-degree moonshine this recipe it turns out about 1 liter per 1 kg of sugar, that is, about 5 liters for the entire mash. To obtain decent drink, it is necessary to withstand all the technology described below and perform double distillation with the release of harmful fractions.

A thermometer will be an indispensable device for following all technology.

1. We heat the water to a temperature of 40–50 degrees.
2. Gradually add sugar and stir. If you pour it all at once, some of the grains may burn to the bottom of the pan. To avoid this, we add it in portions.
3. When everything is dissolved in the container, heat the syrup to 70–75 degrees and add citric acid.
4. Heat the mixture to 80 degrees, maintain this temperature for 5 minutes and turn off the stove.
5. Cool to room temperature.
6. We dilute the yeast in a liter of syrup and wait about 15 minutes until it activates and sizzles.
7. We add them to the fermentation container, on top of which we place a water seal.
8. We take the container to a dark place for 5–7 days and maintain the temperature around 23–27 degrees Celsius.
9. We filter the spent mash and send it to the distillation cube.
10. We carry out a quick first distillation. We collect moonshine until the strength in the stream drops to 30 degrees.
11. Stir the resulting moonshine with clean water to a strength of 20 degrees.
12. We distill the moonshine again. The first 250 ml are separated as heads and not consumed internally..
13. We collect the rest of the product until the strength in the stream drops to 40 degrees.
14. Let’s sum it up and taste the resulting drink :)

Due to the inverted sugar, the mash may take up to 3 days to mature, so monitor the fermentation process carefully.

You should not heat the wort too much, as it may cause strong foaming. Maintain 23–27 degrees and everything will be fine.

As a video, I am attaching a video from Moonshine Sanych, in which Konstantin examines in detail the inversion of sugar into syrup. It is at this stage that citric acid comes into play, which must be added at one of the stages.

One of the most popular food additives, which is actively used in cooking and the food industry, is (citric acid formula - E330) - this is an organic acid with a weak effect, which can be found in a variety of vegetables and fruits, especially in citrus fruits. Maximum amount E330 - in and (up to eight percent - this is approximately forty-seven grams per liter of juice).

Considering normal conditions, then citric acid has a white color and a fine crystal shape. The powder dissolves perfectly in.

IN human body There is also lemon E330. Derivatives of E330 - salts, are involved (and simply irreplaceable) in the process of bone formation, as well as in the process of regulating the size of calcium crystals. Additive salts are of great importance in biochemistry, since they are an intermediate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle, which are actively involved in metabolic processes.

For the first time they began to produce citric acid from citrus juice at the beginning of 1890 in Italy. Today, the most large-scale method of this food additive is the biosynthesis of various sugar components using industrial strains of the mold fungus Aspergillusniger.

According to estimates for 2017, 1.6 million tons of E330 were produced in the world, which is largely produced in China. To date, more than fifty percent of the production of this dietary supplement is added to formulations various drinks, thus regulating their acidity level, and also acting as a preservative: approximately twenty percent are used in the production of various food products, approximately twenty percent are added in the production of various detergents. And only ten percent are actively used in cosmetics, the chemical industry and pharmaceuticals.

Citric acid, E330 – use in food

This additive is in every housewife’s kitchen today. And E330 and its salts (sodium, calcium and potassium citrates) are actively used in the production of various foods and drinks (especially non-alcoholic) in order to improve taste qualities, regulate acidity levels, and also act as a natural preservative.

E330 forms chelate complexes (compounds), which take an active part in the delivery of various beneficial and nutrients in a fairly light and digestible biological form. Buffer citrate properties are used to adjust the pH in products household chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

As emulsifiers, the food additive E330 is added during the production process - this additive prevents separation, is also added to caramel in order to reduce the crystallization process, and to any dishes as a taste stimulant.

E330 as a food additive is present together with sodium bicarbonate in a variety of effervescent drinks, as well as in other effervescent products (powders and tablets), and in cosmetic products (bath bombs, aromatic salts, etc.). The E330 additive is quite often found in cleaning products.

It is also worth noting that the additive is actively used in cooking, as it has preservative properties, adds flavor to products, and is also used as a substitute for vinegar.

Citric acid in cooking

Citric acid is actively used in cooking. There is a wide variety of recipes with preparations for the winter using E330.

Recipe for cooking with citric acid at home: you need to take liter jar, put four sweet peas or three cloves, two cloves, one thin, two slices on the bottom. After this, small tomatoes are laid out. Fill the jar to the top with boiling water and cover with a lid. To prevent tomatoes from bursting, it is recommended to pierce each tomato with a needle at the foot before placing it in jars. Jars of boiling water should be left to stand for fifteen to twenty minutes. While the tomatoes are steeping in boiling water, you need to prepare the marinade. For one liter of marinade you need to take one tablespoon, three tablespoons, one teaspoon of citric acid. Bring the marinade to a boil. Drain the water from the jars, pour in boiling marinade, and roll up. It is recommended to consume tomatoes every month. A recipe with citric acid for the winter is an excellent and much tastier alternative to a recipe with vinegar. Marinating with citric acid is much healthier for the body, and the products are preserved for a long period of time.

The combination of soda and citric acid is actively used in baking - they act as a leavening agent.

You can add citric acid to a variety of drinks, to borscht dressings (to adjust acidity), to creams, etc.

Use of citric acid in everyday life

E330 can be used to descale the kettle. How much citric acid should be added to combat scale? For one teapot you need to pour one bag of lemon juice, add water, bring to a boil and leave to stand for half an hour, then just rinse the teapot thoroughly.

How to descale a washing machine with citric acid? To do this, you need to pour two sachets of citric acid into the drum of the machine, put one kitchen towel, set the washing temperature to the maximum and start the wash. It is recommended to clean the washing machine with citric acid once a month - this way you can maintain the functionality of the heating element for many years.

You can clean all bathroom fixtures with citric acid. How to clean a bathroom faucet with citric acid? To do this you need to take toothpaste, soda and citric acid in equal proportions, apply to the desired areas, leave for a few minutes, then rinse with water.

Citric acid - harm and benefit

If you consume citric acid along with foods, it does not cause any harm to the body. In acceptable dosages, food additive E330 has a beneficial effect on the body, filling it with health and vitamins.

E330 is always present in reasonable quantities in the human body, taking an active part in metabolic processes, and if you combine the use of E330 with a variety of food products, it activates the Krebs cycle, therefore significantly accelerating metabolic processes.