Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Sodium or potassium bicarbonate used as a leavening agent; baking soda.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Originally potassium bicarbonate, but at present sodium bicarbonate is commonly sold under the same name.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Old Chem.) Aërated salt; a white crystalline substance having an alkaline taste and reaction, consisting of sodium bicarbonate (see under
sodium .) It is largely used in cooking, with sour milk (lactic acid) or cream of tartar as a substitute for yeast. It is also an ingredient of most baking powders, and is used in the preparation of effervescing drinks.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
sodium bicarbonate - noun
potassium bicarbonate
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a white soluble compound (NaHCO3) used in effervescent drinks and in baking powders and as an antacid
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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I found a new diversion today while Googling for "saleratus"--the nineteenth-century name for baking powder.
Archive 2005-09-01 Holly 2005
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I found a new diversion today while Googling for "saleratus"--the nineteenth-century name for baking powder.
books and cooks Holly 2005
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"I suppose you call saleratus bread and salt pork and flapjacks SIMPLE?" said the doctor, coolly; "they are COMMON enough, and if you were working with your muscles instead of your nerves in that frame of yours they might not hurt you; but you are suffering as much from eating more than you can digest as the veriest gourmand.
Selected Stories of Bret Harte Bret Harte 1869
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"Wouldn't it take the saleratus out your dough, now?" said Kink
Too Much Gold 2010
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"I say, Kink, don't forget the saleratus on the corner shelf back of the stove."
Too Much Gold 2010
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"Wouldn't it take the saleratus out your dough, now?" said Kink
TOO MUCH GOLD 2010
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"I say, Kink, don't forget the saleratus on the corner shelf back of the stove."
TOO MUCH GOLD 2010
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Because biological yeast was unreliable, most bakers supplemented their sourdough starter with saleratus, an alkali bicarbonate of soda that replaced the colonial-era pearl ash or potash potassium carbonate derived from leaching wood or plant ashes.
One Big Table Molly O’Neill 2010
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By 1850, baking powder—combining sodium bicarbonate with cream of tartar—replaced saleratus, making a greater range of baked goods, such as scones, biscuits, and fruit and nut breads, all quick and easy to prepare.
One Big Table Molly O’Neill 2010
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There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to.
Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen Divers 2007
yarb commented on the word saleratus
"Huh," grunted Annixter with grim satisfaction, a certain sense of good humour at length returning to him, "that just about takes the saleratus out of YOUR dough, my friend."
- Frank Norris, The Octopus, ch. 2
August 9, 2008
reesetee commented on the word saleratus
Must try using that phrase.
August 11, 2008
bilby commented on the word saleratus
What, and gain reknown as a salt-of-carbonic-acid thief? You flabby old dough-deflater you!
August 11, 2008
reesetee commented on the word saleratus
*thinking*
No. No, I don't believe I've ever been called a name like that before.
*thinking some more*
Definitely not. Dough-deflater, perhaps. Flabby? Most certainly not.
August 11, 2008
plethora commented on the word saleratus
There's a first time for everything, rt.
August 11, 2008
reesetee commented on the word saleratus
Indeed.
August 11, 2008
yarb commented on the word saleratus
I love reading early C20 books, where characters have names like Annixter and no-one bats an eyelid.
August 11, 2008
she commented on the word saleratus
I keep reading this as slateralus.
August 11, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word saleratus
"Take one quart of sour milk, or buttermilk; stir in as much corn meal as will make a pancake batter; take one teacupful of flour, and one teaspoonful of saleratus; beat well together; then add three eggs well beaten...."
—Susan Williams, Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985), 214
May 4, 2010
qms commented on the word saleratus
Though yeast bread is higher in status
It's likely to bring on some flatus,
But nothing will squelch
The renegade belch
Like scones or a bread saleratus.
March 14, 2017