Citric acid which several folks have mentioned works well if a
little slower than sparax or ph down. It is also less hazardous (it
still stings like hell if you get it in a cut). It is available
from soap making suppliers (what they use it for I don’t know) for
much less than the Citrex or buying food grade from other suppliers
like lab suppliers. I bought my last batch for $1 a pound for 50 lbs
but they even have 1 pound containers for $3.50 there are several
soap making suppliers on the web try a google search for “citric
acid” & soap
Citric Acid in NYcity is available at 46 Jewelry Supply, 46 West 46
St New York, NY 10036. @ $3.50 each pound. I avoid to post this but
then we keeping on getting request for sources all the time.
ah but citric acid is available really cheap…go to any Indian
grocery store (some oriental and hispanic grocers also carry it)- if
you buy it as “sour salt” from a retail spice supplier it is
expensive(i.e:.McCormick,Spice Island, etc.) and only comes in one
ounce containers. I get a 2lb bag for under 2
bucks,pre-taxes@.International market in New Orleans (off veterans
mem. blvd. in Metairie for you New Orleanians)…It’s packaged by
Laxmi products among others( impex brands for example) I use it for
making cheeses!! never considered it for pickle!..hmmm
I use citric acid pickle exclusively and it works very well. I like
that it is non toxic So go for it yes it is very cheap 30 bucks
keeps me pickled for a year of heavy production lol
does the citric acid have another name- brand name?
Not as far as I know. It’s just called citric acid. It’s used in
canning certain foods, and in soap making. I’ve been using citric
acid since I started casting, and I love it. As chemicals go, it’s
fairly non-toxic and doesn’t release discernible fumes. And if I get
it on my skin, it’s not going to eat a hole in me. I was using a
standard pickle pot until recently, when I switched to a much larger
crock pot (holds more castings than the pickle pot). The crock pot
gets the pickle a LOT hotter than the pickle pot did, and thus, the
citric acid works a lot faster than it used to work. I was getting
my citric acid from a soap making supply company called Cedarvale,
but they seem to have gone out of business. I’ll be trying the
supplier that Pam mentioned, craftlobby.com. I just checked and they
have 10 pounds of citric acid for $12.50 plus shipping.
That’s about 1/4 of what I paid the last time I bought it!
Cat # Packaging Unit Cost Package Cost
81007-2 2 lb Jar $3.00/lb $6.00 per Jar
81007-7 7 lb pail $2.22/lb $15.54 per pail
81007-15 15 lb pail $1.65/lb $24.75 per pail
81007-36 36lb pail $1.54/lb $55.44 per pail
81007-50 50 lb bag $1.40/lb $70.00 per bag
I will eventually try some Citric Acid but have not been able to
find it in more that 1 oz containers yet.
Last I knew, you could buy citric acid from this company -Majestic
Mountain Sage. 1 pound for $2.00. Citric acid is used in lotion
making, and many soap making suppliers sell it. (many soap makers
get into lotion making, too)
I think I also read on this list that citric acid is in lemonade. I
checked a packet and sure enough-it is the first ingredient. (not
sure how the remaining ingredients affect the pickling process…)
Indeed, Citric Acid is the white powder used on 'Sour Gummy" type
candies, also the first listed ingrediant on many flavours of
“Kool-aids” and generic drink mixes, as well as many Brandname and
store brand sodas. The list could go on, but you get it (read labels,
it’s your health). Alternative name: Sour Flour, sour salt, dough
conditioner (stablises yeast growth). you can 'Google" for the MSDS
to get an idea how benign this Acid can be, but it sure likes copper.
By the way, it doesn’t readily plate out if steel is introduced to
the hot pickle, I have to go to PH down for that, but rarely do.
WARNING: Once copper is desolved into the Citric, it is not as
benign! Apparently disolved copper is not good for you. So caution
is needed. Also, Citric needes the higher temp of Crock Pots, can
cause skin (heat) burns.
I’ve gotten Citric Acid from soap makers, and locally at
international grociery stores.
By the way, it doesn't readily plate out if steel is introduced to
the hot pickle, I have to go to PH down for that
Hmmm, when I am fusing gold to silver, I often wrap a few turns of
binding wire around the silver first and throw it in the pickle for
a while. I use only citric acid as my pickle, and the silver comes
out copper-plated just fine. It might take longer, I wouldn’t
necessarily notice, but it works.
Citric is indeed edible and pretty darned safe. It’s the sour in
lemon, the cut half of which is often used to “clean” copper ware
and copper counter tops. At our house the favorite candy is the
Canadian made Sour Patch Kids, in addition to citric they are soured
with fumaric acid. I’ve never tried fumaric for a pickle but I
suspect it is much more costly than citric anyway.
Merry Christmas to all (my very close jewish friends don’t consider
me offensive)!
Yes, I remember drinking citric acid lemonade once, while out
backpacking. It was good. But be aware it is very hard on the
fillings in the teeth; several of mine fell out within a day or two!
So go for it yes it is very cheap 30 bucks