Comments onlyme has made

  • xanthan gum & baking powder -

    synthetic, well, xanthan gum maybe, but neither is artificial. I was taught that synthetic is like for like (eg. rose geranium for rose) and artificial is not (eg. vanilla (plant) and vanillin (artificial vanilla) a petrochemical).

    xanthan gum

    http://www.ebi.ac.uk/2can/genomes/genomes.html?http://www.ebi.ac.uk/2can/genomes/bacteria/Xanthomona s_campestris.html

    Xanthomonas campestris is a plant pathogen that causes black rot in certain plants and weeds

    Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris is grown commercially to produce the exopolysaccharide xanthan gum, which is used as a viscosifying and stabilising agent in many industries.

    as for baking powder

    http://science.howstuffworks.com/question57.htm

    Baking powder is normally made of three different parts:

    An acid
    A base
    A filler of some sort
    All three need to be dry powders that can be mixed together. For example, baking soda (a base), cream of tartar (an acid) and corn starch (the filler) are three common ingredients

    ask Umbra did a piece on baking soda

    ammonium carbonate
    http://www.foodproductdesign.com/archive/2004/0904CC.html

    According to the ubiquitous "Food Lover's Companion" by Sharon T. Herbst, baking ammonia is a chemical leavening agent that is considered "the precursor of today's baking powder and baking soda." It has also been known as ammonia bicarbonate, ammonia carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate and hartshorn in various circles and at different points in time. Traditionally, baking ammonia was a by-product of hartshorn, which used to be obtained by grating or calcining the horns of harts, which in modern times we know as male deer. On Fight over synthetic ingredients splits organics community posted 4 years, 1 month ago 5 Responses

  • synthetic vs artificial

    If the article had not used the word "artificial" synonymously with "synthetic", then the article would have had merit.  As it stands, the whole issue has been completely disregarded and is simply an opinion without any basis.  There is not one bit of information about what qualifies as "synthetic" and up for debate and that which is "artificial" and can never be "organic".

    I agree that this issue is a valid one, but you've just created a huge layer of confusion over the whole thing.On Fight over synthetic ingredients splits organics community posted 4 years, 1 month ago 5 Responses