Baking Soda and Gelatinization

[Hermit]

I just saw a cooking show where they said adding baking soda to a corn meal dish they were making improved the gelatinization and reduced the need to stir with reduced risk of clumping because the sodium ions were replacing the magnesium and other ions. This supposedly allowed the cells to burst move evenly with less heat. They used a 'pinch' for this polenta recipe. I have never made polenta but they were saying this cuts down tremendously on the stirring you would have to do otherwise. I haven't done any cereal mashes yet but I'll keep this in the back of my mind. I'm not sure if this would help with dough balls when mashing barley but at the low levels needed it might not be harmful either.

 

[ajdelange]

If it is really the sodium ion exchange then you could use sodium chloride (and I wonder why they didn't). If it is the pH increase or a combination of pH increase and sodium exchange then I can see why they would use the bicarb. In general we do not want increased pH and so try to avoid bicarbonate and carbonate to the extent we can. But I don't suppose a "pinch" can do much harm. Why don't you try it and see?

 

[Hermit]

Well, it was a cooking show and they didn't mention PH just the ion exchange when they decided to explain the science of why this worked. Not sure why a cooking show would even bother but I'm glad they did. I did wonder if the calcium chloride would do the ion exchange in the same way or not. They mentioned that it was a method used for dried beans. I'm sure the prevalence of baking soda is greater than calcium chloride in most kitchens and that would influence their choice. If I do a cereal mash I had thought about trying both and a control just to see what the differences would be. According to them if I don't get a sticky mess then it worked.

 

[pjj2ba]

Agreed, why not just use sodium chloride? It couldn't be for health reasons, ie, for a low salt diet, as you are still adding sodium. I find on some of the cooking shows, that while the scientific facts might be correct, the facts espoused are not the ones responsible for the effect being described.

In ion exchange, yes the sodium is readily exchanged for other ions, but in this case probably not Magnesium, but Calcium. I can't think of a big roll for Mg in plants that would account for this effect. Ca on the other hand is a VERY important component in plant cell walls. Remove the Ca, and the walls start to fall apart. But I don't see how simply adding Na would get the Ca to exchange. The Ca - pectin bond is pretty strong. I suspect one would have to alter the pH to break the bond.

In cooking, adding salt will help to draw water out of the cells making it easier for them to collapse and rupture. This would make sense. I can't see where sodium bicarb would do anything different - except raise the pH.

I'd try it with table salt (pH neutral), and then the bicarb(alkali), and then for fun to test the other end of the pH scale, some sodium phosphate (pH 5-7 ish).

I just did a quick literature hunt, and while I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, I did find the pectins are commonly extracted by treating with soda ash (sodium carbonate - not bicarb - this is more alkali) to create Ca pectate. Ca pectate is not soluble, and its formation will disrupt cell wall integrity. The refs I found were for extracting the pectins for their purification, not about softening cell walls.