Food Grade Potassium bitartrate

Product Description
     Potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, with formula KC4H5O6, is a byproduct of winemaking. In cooking it is known as cream of tartar. It is the potassium acid salt of tartaric acid (a carboxylic acid).

    Potassium bitartrate can be mixed with an acidic liquid such as lemon juice or white vinegar to make a pastelike cleaning agent for metals such as brass, aluminum or copper, or with water for other cleaning applications such as removing light stains from porcelain. This mixture is sometimes mistakenly made with vinegar and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), which actually react to neutralize each other, creating carbon dioxide and a sodium acetate solution.

Cream of tartar was often used in traditional dyeing where the complexing action of the tartrate ions were used to adjust the solubility and hydrolysis of mordant salts such as tin chloride and alum.

Cream of tartar, when mixed into a paste with hydrogen peroxide, can be used to clean rust from some hand tools, notably hand files. The paste is applied and allowed to set for a few hours and then washed off with a baking soda/water solution. Another rinse with water, a thorough drying and a thin application of oil will protect the file from further rusting.

  Cream of tartar has been used internally as a purgative. Use as a purgative is dangerous because an excess of potassium, or hyperkalemia, may occur. Though it has been supplanted by modern medicines in conventional medical practice, contemporary and traditional recommendations may be found for the internal use of cream of tartar as a natural or folk remedy for nicotine addiction, arthritis, and candida albicans.