Knowing your ingredients Part I

I've been attending some adhoc baking classes and from that class, I learnt a couple of things from fellow classmates and of course my baking shifu.

1. Cream of tartar is non halal. Who would have thought right? I google it and found out that cream of tartar is actually a byproduct of wine industry.

Taken from source : A crystalline acid forms on the inside of wine barrels. The barrels are scraped and the sediment is purified and ground to form cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is used to stabilize egg whites when making meringue or as an addition to certain frostings to produce a creamy product.

source: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/equivalents_substitutions.asp?index=C&tid=486

2. Vanilla Extract. Dont be confused with Vanilla Essence by Bake King or RedMan. Vanilla Essence does not contained alcoholic content, unless otherwise stated. Always check your labels.

Extract from wikipedia: Vanilla extract is a solution containing the flavor compound vanillin. Pure vanilla extract is made by extracting from vanilla beans in an alcoholic solution. In order for a vanilla extract to be called pure, the FDA requires that the solution contain a minimum of 35% alcohol and 13.35 ounces of vanilla bean per gallon.

3. Gelatine. What exactly is a gelatin?

According to wikipedia, it is Gelatin' (from French gélatine) is a translucent, colorless, brittle, nearly tasteless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones.

So why is it non-halal? Again, taken from wikipedia... Gelatin is derived mainly from pork skins, pork and cattle bones, or split cattle hides.

But doesnt mean all gelatine is non-halal. It depends on the source. It can be from pig or can be from beef. The most important thing is to look out for the halal sign. When in doubt, always check your label :)

When baking, just because your recipe calls for Jell-o or gelatine leaves, dont take it. Jell-O is made from pork and gelatine leaves found in Singapore are non-halal. Take extra caution when serving to Muslim friends.

I'll stop at 3 first. If I have more to add, I'll add to a new post.