Before You Bake. . .

If you've ever read the ingredients list on your Baking Powder you would find the following:  Cornstarch, Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda), Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, and Monocalcium Phosphate.

Let's look at Sodium Aluminum Sulfate.  Here is an excerpt from livestrong.com about this food additive:

Food Additives

Because aluminum makes up a significant portion of the earth’s crust, soil and water contain aluminum, which means that most foods contain at least trace amounts of this metal. Ingesting small amounts of aluminum may not cause harm, but over time aluminum builds up within your body. Some foods, like baking powder and processed cheeses, have higher than natural levels of aluminum because they contain aluminum-based food additives. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers the following food additives as “GRAS – Generally Recognized as Safe”: aluminum ammonium sulfate, aluminum calcium silicate, aluminum nicotinate, aluminum potassium sulfate, aluminum sodium sulfate, aluminum stearate, sodium aluminum phosphate and aluminum sulfate. Many still question the safety of these food additives, however. The group known as the Department of the Planet Earth petitioned the FDA in September 2005 to rescind the GRAS rating for these additives, citing studies linking aluminum food additive ingestion to Alzheimer’s disease. Studies haven't conclusively proven a connection, however, according to Health Canada.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/540321-what-foods-contain-harmful-aluminum/#ixzz2j3sOPTri

Now let's look at Monocalcium Phosphate.  I found, at this website, that Monocalcium Phosphate is another leavening agent that causes a foaming action, leaving the finished product softer and is not known to cause any health problems.  What threw me off was this little blerb:

Monocalcium phosphate is very beneficial for bones and teeth.  Not enough is known about monocalcium phosphate to evaluate it for consumption during pregnancy.

Um. . . it's in everyday foods, but no one is sure if women should consume it during pregnancy?  Lovely.

So. . . how in the world do we get rid of Baking Powder??

Make your own of course!  All you need is one teaspoon of Baking Soda and two teaspoons of Cream of Tartar and you have one Tablespoon of Baking Powder!

They say you should not make a bunch at once and store it because it will stick together and become unusable.  However I did find one recipe that recommends adding some cornstarch which will help preserve it if you do want to try to make a larger quantity.

Want to test it out?  See the recipe here

I have not had the chance to try it out yet so if you try it first let me know how it goes!