National Bicarbonate of Soda Day
It comes by many names, Baking Soda, Sodium Bicarbonate, or my personal favorite Bicarbonate of Soda, because it never hurts to use more words to say things. It’s become a fairly integral part of our society, being used in everything from tackling the most difficult cleaning jobs to making our...
Position baking soda as a multi-use household essential for eco-conscious consumers seeking affordable, natural cleaning and baking solutions.
- 5 surprising uses for baking soda beyond the kitchen
- DIY cleaning hacks: swap chemicals for baking soda this December
- Bake smarter: the science behind perfect cookies and bread with sodium bicarbonate
- Budget-friendly home care: one ingredient, endless solutions
Bicarbonate of Soda is an interesting little substance that many had their first experiences with making volcanos in science class. A measure of this grainy white powder, a bit of food coloring, and a splash of lemon juice and suddenly there was a bubbling flow of magma rolling down the sides of a paper mache volcano!
But this is hardly the most common use of the substance, and it has found its way into everything. So where did it come from?
Well, aside from being a result of a chemical process known as the “Solvay Process” where sodium chloride, ammonia, and carbon dioxide are mixed in water to produce sodium carbonate, and happens to produce sodium bicarbonate as a byproduct (thank you to Ernest Solvay for discovering this process in the 1860’s), sodium bicarbonate was first discovered by a French Chemist by the name of Nicolas Leblanc.
He discovered it at approximately the same time he discovered sodium carbonate, otherwise known as soda ash.
Since then it has come into use in a surprising number of industries, including cooking, pest control, paint and corrosion removal, disinfectants, personal hygiene, even in cattle food supplements, just to name a few. This simple discovery has turned out to be an incredibly useful little substance, and that’s why it gets a day of its very own!