Alice Clay - Baking Soda 101: The Incredible Effects of Baking Soda on Your House, Beauty and Health

Baking Soda 101

The Incredible Effects of Baking Soda on Your House, Beauty and Health

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H ave you noticed how, in today's world, we tend to put more value on the most expensive products, automatically associating them with the best quality? But how right are we when doing something like that? In this way, we almost forget about those things that are easily affordable or which are free because we fear that, since no breathtaking price tag was put on them, maybe they are of no use. And what a shame that this is such a common habit! We should never forget that the best things in life are those that come for free.

You probably wonder right now why you see such a long introduction for a book that is supposed to present the main uses of baking soda. Well, from a certain perspective, it is extremely relevant. Just consider the following questions: How many times didn't you rush to buy a certain "professional" cleaning product when having a problem with a dirty/greasy object in your house? How often do you use a product as simple as baking soda in your beauty rituals? How frequently did you make use of a medical treatment when your problem could easily have been solved by this natural alternative?

Certainly, the common answer for all these questions and many similar ones would be "on a regular basis". And the irony is that it is very possible that, in all those situations, you did have a baking soda box somewhere in your house, but you ignored it. In any case, since you are reading this, it means that you are aware that a certain change needs to be done and you are already on the right path. This book was created with the sole purpose of making people aware that, with something as common as baking soda, they can solve some of the most unusual problems of their house and their body in no time and for almost no cost (one dollar or less, anyway).

With a clear structure and language for everyone to understand, this book presents the most important areas where baking soda can be used as a daily routine. In and outside your house, as a miraculous product for the cleaning, relaxation, and general health of your body, or as a simple way to keep weeds out of your garden baking soda has a beneficial effect on almost everything. And there are probably so many other uses that are yet to be discovered. This book should be always kept at your fingertips in order to be checked in case of an emergency. What remains for you to do is acknowledge the necessity, check the right chapter and find the perfect method, add the magical baking soda and your problem is solved.

C hapter One: What Makes Baking Soda so Useful?

In this chapter, you will learn:

• What properties make baking soda this helpful in so many areas
• Some key points in the usage history of this product

Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate or bicarbonate of soda, is usually obtained during the extraction of ore, but it can also be prepared in laboratory in a process that is called "Solvay Process". The product appears in a solid form and is commercialized for domestic use as a fine powder. Unless you are a chemistry expert, it might seem difficult to understand how come this simple product can have such interesting reactions when put in combination with different other solutions.

Well, the reason stays in the chemical properties that sodium bicarbonate has: it is completely safe, non-toxic and not explosive, it is odorless, but it has a slightly alkaline taste (which gives it the capacity to neutralize an acid), it is soluble in water and non-flammable, and it can produce other chemical compounds when put in certain combinations and at a specific temperature. All these characteristics that baking soda has make it so flexible, giving it the power, when properly combined, to be the perfect solution in your kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, garden and so on.

However, all these details were not known until relatively late the first half of 20th century. Of course, this does not mean that this product was not used before; it was indeed an appreciated substance, but for different purposes in various parts of the world. For example, ancient Egyptians would use the mineral natron (in which sodium bicarbonate is an important component) for cleaning purposes. Also, even from those times, it was known that baking soda could be used in cooking, to give a softer texture to different foods.

There are some key moments in the discovery and extensive research that was made on sodium bicarbonate, and that eventually contributed to the wide spread of its popularity all over the globe:

• In 1791, sodium carbonate was, for the first time, artificially produced in a laboratory by Nicolas LeBlanc, a French chemist.
• In 1846, two bakers from New York Austin Church and John Dwight discovered that baking soda can be obtained from carbon dioxide and sodium bicarbonate. They also promoted its domestic usage.
• In 1860s, Ernest Solvay introduced the Solvay Process as it is used today.
• By 1930s, baking soda was already popular and it was even recommended in several medical treatments.

From that moment until the present day, many more precious characteristics of baking soda were discovered. However, even if we are all aware of some of its uses (such as the famous trick to keep a baking soda box in your fridge in order to keep away bad smells and preserve the food fresh for a longer period of time, or that you can sometimes use it instead of baking powder), we fail to fully appreciate its value. This is why it's good to be documented. If we know when and how to use it, baking soda can save us money, time and it will keep us away from stress because almost every house problem can be partly or completely solved with the touch of this magical powder.