Citric acid
Citric acid is also known as E-330 preservative, additive apparently harmless but caused great confusion, becoming listed as a potentially carcinogenic. Citric acid is involved in the Krebs cycle or citric acid cycle, metabolic pathway that is part of cellular respiration. Krebs also means cancer in German, hence the confusion.
Citric acid is an additive insurance referred to in the list of additives permitted by the EU on the other hand it is noteworthy that all those additives that incorporate the "E" indicate that they have been approved by the EU.
Citric acid was first isolated from lemon juice, by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1781. In 1860 he began to get citric acid from fruits using calcium salts, but the process was expensive and uneconomic. In the early twentieth century began to develop processes that involved fungi (Aspergillus niger), who grew up in a sugary produce citric acid.
Among the culinary uses that we can give the citric acid can highlight the increase in gelling capacity in jams, jellies for obtaining more transparent to reduce the browning or oxidation that may suffer the fruits or vegetables, to provide pronounced acidity, to invert sugar, for making jellies, candy, etc..
Basic properties:
Properties |
Value |
chemical formula |
C6H8O7 |
molecular weight |
192.124 g/mol |
phase |
solid (at STP) |
melting point |
156 °C |
boiling point |
310 °C |
density |
1.665 g/cm3 |
dielectric constant |
|
Solid properties:
Properties |
Value |
density |
1.665 g/cm3 |
vapor pressure |
6×10-5 mmHg |
refractive index |
1.44 |