Bicarbonate of soda / cream of tartar

I know this has been on before so I am really sorry for posting it again. I tried to use the search facility but could find nothing.

I am making some parkin and bonfire toffee and the recipes call for some bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar. What are these called in German? And are they readily available? I am going to Sheffield on Friday so it is no big deal if I have to pick some up there.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Bicarbonate is called "Natron" (little green sachets in the supermarket)

Dont they use bicarbonite of soda for making bombs? Or am I confusing it with something else...

Don't know about bombs, not really my forte but I made an excellent volcano for my daughters science class last night using bicarb. Add vinegar to the bicarb and it erupts everywhere, add red food colouring and hey presto it's lava!!

Cream of tartar is Weinsteinpulver and you may need to go to the Apotheke rather than the supermarket for this.

How come you have to go to the Apotheke to get cream of Tartare? Are there hidden Risiken und Nebenwirkungen that we havent been aware of up to now?!

Hi everyone,

So i got for xmas a lovely cake book and am at the moment loving baking. But i really wanna cook one cake from it that requires bicarbonate of soda. Can you buy this in germany, if so what is it called??

I know this is a bit of strange question. Would be a great help though if any one knew xx

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Is that baking soda? In that case look for Kaisernatron.

Bicarbonate of sode is baking soda (but NOT baking powder) and in German is called natron. There is another thread somewhere where I asked where to buy it in Germany and someone posted a photo of what the packet looks like. Haven't found anything other that the Kaiser Natron brand and it only comes in those little sachets. I once thought I'd found a 250g box but it turned out to be just five sachets in a box. The sachets cost around 40 or 50 cent each, the box of five was around 2.40. Since it's about one euro for a 500g bag at home I got my brother to bring a load over last time he came. One of these days I'll get around to finding a baking speciality shop and asking them if there are any other suppliers. Or maybe ring Kaisers and ask them if they sell bigger packs (from the looks of their website they don't).

The bicarb and vinegar thing, by the way, is a great way to clean the toilet.

I think I read somewhere that Dr. Oetker also makes baking soda, but the market I shop at also only has Kaiser Natron.

Around Christmas you can get Weinsteinsäure (cream of tartar) and Natron (sodium bicarbonate) in many supermarkets as both are ingredients for Lebkuchen.
During the rest of the year it's indeed a bit difficult to get them. You might be lucky in very big well-assorted shops. Or in very tiny mom-and-pop shops in the country.

There is a historical reason for cream of tartar being sold in pharmacies: in the middle ages the pharmacies had the right to bake Lebkuchen (gingerbread), since they had all the necessary spices and raising agents. Other than the pharmacists, only the candlemakers were allowed to make Lebkuchen (since they had the necessary wooden moulds they also used for wax ornaments). The tradition got lost only in the 19th century and nowadays everyone may bake them

Cream of tartar is definitely available from the pharmacies but the price varies quite a lot from one to another. I used to buy it when I was making elderflower cordial - recipes seem to differ between adding citric acid, tartaric acid and cream of tartar - as far as I understand it the cream of tartar helps to prevent crystallisation.

I found "Natron" in the baking section at my local "Rewe" yesterday.

Is 'natron' as potent as bicarb from UK? My cake didn't rise and I'm wondering if it's the German stuff...I read on here before that the baking powder over here isn't as potent thought maybe it might be similar?

For baking soda I use the Haus Natron from Dr. Oetker that comes in a 200 g. little green box. For cream of tartar I use sahnesteif. When I first moved here over 10 year ago, an American friend of mine told me this substitute for cream of tartar because she and I were always baking for some kind of party or get together, and it works. BUT, you do NOT want to use cream of tartar for your schlagsahne. I made this mistake one time when I didn't have sahnesteif and the cream had that funny salty taste, yuck! Well good luck and happy baking!!