Baking
Hartshorn salt, also known as hartshorn, baker's ammonia, ammonium carbonate and ammonium bicarbonate is used as a leavening agent in baked goods in place of yeast, baking soda and baking powder. It was more popular in the 1700s and prior as a forerunner of the modern baking powder[7] but is still used today in traditional German, Swiss, Polish, Dutch and Nordic recipes such as
- amoniaczki and drömmar (Polish and Swedish sugar cookies)
- loftkökur (Icelandic chocolate cookies)
- hafrakex (Icelandic oatmeal cookies)
- Basler Leckerli (Swiss & German citrus gingerbread)
- Biscoff (Dutch, Belgian & German illustrated Christmas cookies, aka windmill cookies or Speculaas)
- Springerle (German illustrated Christmas crackers)
- lefse (Norwegian tortillas)
A half-teaspoon of hartshorn salt can substitute for one teaspoon of baking powder, and this is commonly done in Americanized recipes. However hartshorn salt is different from baking powder in that the goods baked with hartshorn salt are crispier, retain intricate designs better, and can be kept out in the open air for longer without becoming stale or hard.
Hartshorn salt and freshly-baked goods made from it smell of ammonia. When heated, the ammonia and carbon dioxide gases are released, and the smell eventually dissipates. The use of hartshorn may turn some ingredients green, such as sunflower seeds.
Safety concerns
Ammonia released during the baking process reacts with glucose and fructose to form intermediate molecules that in turn, react with asparagine (an amino acid found in nuts, seeds, and whole grains) to form acrylamide, a carcinogen.[8][9]