Dates & Bicarbonate of soda - why??

adsk

I'm planning on making a date & walnut loaf. Most of the recipes I've seen say to put hot water on the dates and add bicarbonate of soda.

Does anyone know why the bicarbonate is needed and what would happen if you didn't use it?

JoeyEmma

Do you have to soak the dates in hot water with bicarb in? If so, you have to do the same when making sticky toffee pudding. I think its because it helps to soften the tough skin of the dates. When its done soaking you end up with a gloopy mush that mixes well all through the cake

NualaBuala

HI,

There's a little food mystery that's been bugging me.

I've been looking at recipes for date loaf and they generally seem to involve soaking the dates in water or milk with a teaspoon of bicarb. It doesn't seem to be as part of the raising process as the recipes either have plain/wholemeal flour plus baking powder or else use SR.

So I was wondering what the sodium bicarb is for. I know it's sometimes used to neutralise acids but dates don't seem acidic to me.

zippychick

as far as i know, it's to toffify the dates I do that with my sticky toffee pud. It makes them swell up all plump and delicious:o:p
I don't have the chemical information to hand though:)

NualaBuala

Thanks Zip, "toffify" is scientific enough for me! That makes perfect sense as I ended up using a recipe that called for bicarb but didn't soak the dates. So they ended up like normal dried fruit and there was a slight soda-y aftertaste. It was still nice ... but not as yum as the toffified version is going to be!

Pink.

Hi NualaBuala,

I think it's used in a similar way that it's used to turn marrowfat peas into mushy peas. It tenderises the skin and makes it softer and more digestible.

There's a previous thread that asks the same question:

Dates & Bicarbonate of soda - why??

I'll merge your thread with that one later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

NualaBuala

Pink-winged wrote: »

Hi NualaBuala,

I think it's used in a similar way that it's used to turn marrowfat peas into mushy peas. It tenderises the skin and makes it softer and more digestible.

There's a previous thread that asks the same question:

Dates & Bicarbonate of soda - why??

I'll merge your thread with that one later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

Thanks a mill Pink and sorry for duplicating. Gosh I thought it was such an odd question it didn't even occur to me someone might already have asked it! It's all becoming clear - they're quite fibrous wee things so I guess they need a little help to squish down. Bicarb - is there nothing you can't do! :A

When I'm scoffing my sticky toffee yumminess it'll be all the nicer for knowing how it got that way.

Pink.

NualaBuala wrote: »

Thanks a mill Pink and sorry for duplicating. Gosh I thought it was such an odd question it didn't even occur to me someone might already have asked it!

Don't be daft! It's only because I have a memory like an elephant that I knew the thread was there. Your toffee yumminess sounds delicious....I love dates. :drool:

Pink

NualaBuala

Aw bless you! Yep, I love them too and as I'm wolfing down banana, date and walnut loaf I'll be telling myself that I can eat as much as I want guilt-free since it's full of fruit!