The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and baking soda fun facts. Because of this, as we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at baking soda fun facts.

Baking Soda Fun Facts: Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid, and is used for increasing the volume and lightening the texture of baked goods. Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture.

• The acid in a baking powder can be either fast-acting or slow-acting. A fast-acting acid reacts in a wet mixture with baking soda at room temperature, and a slow-acting acid will not react until heated in an oven.
• While various baking powders were sold in the first half of the 19th century, our modern variants were discovered by Alfred Bird in 1843.
• During World War II, Byron H. Smith, an inventor in Bangor, Maine (U.S.), created a substitute product for American housewives, who were unable to obtain cream of tartar or baking powder due to war food shortages.
• Sodium bicarbonate is often taken by mouth as an antacid to treat the symptoms of heartburn and upset stomach.
• December 30th is National Bicarbonate of Soda Day.
• Early chemical leavening was accomplished by activating baking soda in the presence of liquid(s) and an acid such as sour milk, vinegar, lemon juice, or cream of tartar.
• Sodium bicarbonate is found in such personal care items as toothpaste, where its mild abrasiveness helps remove surface stains from teeth.

Baking Soda Fun Facts We Missed

Please feel free to let us know if we may have missed some baking soda fun facts in the comment section below. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Baking Soda.