Food preparation reminders as Eid nears!

Sallam everyone! The days of Ramadan are nearing to an end….  We are almost at the home stretch  of the last 10 days of Ramadan! We hope everyone is having a smooth and blessed Ramadan full of qhooshu – Ameen!

Not only are we busy making Ibadah (Ameen!) but we women-folk are also busy preparing traditional cookies and foods either for Iftars or for Eid. Today, Insha Allah, our resident Dr. Anton Apriyantono wants to remind us about the ingredients we use to prepare our food.

Most of us know that we must consume halal foods and sometimes we pay attention to only the slaughtered meats.  However, it doesn’t stop there.  In this era of fast food and beautiful food there is a strong tendency to add ingredients that will enhance the taste and beauty of foods.  It’s kind of like giving “plastic-surgery” to the foods we eat today.  So, we will be working on short series on foods and ingredients that are not halal and hopefully some great replacements. We welcome your input, ideas and questions! 

From the desk of Dr. Anton Apriyantono ~

Cream of Tartar

Cream of tartar is a potassium acid salt of tartaric acid and a by-product of winemaking. It is obtained within the wine barrels and sometimes at the base of bottles of wine. Therefore it is prohibited in Islam.

Cream of tartar in fact is only one of the baking ingredients used to make bread, cookies, and cakes. It helps in smoothing and giving more volume when beating egg whites. It is also used to give a creamier texture to candy and frostings.

There are various substitutes to cream of tartar, for instance, sodium phosphate or polyphosphate, sodium aluminium sulphate, etc.You can choose other baking powders that do not consist of cream of tartar, and usually it is written on the package.

A suggested alternative would be 3 tbsp lemon juice or 3 tbspn vinegar.

Source: Is it halal? Question and answer by Dr Anton Apriyantono, 2006 and http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/CreamTartar.htm

Translated and modified by Delina

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