[Herbalist] Saleratus?

[Jenne Heise]

> much period info you can glean from such places!  ;-)  Anyway, they had a
> whole bunch of herb boxes and tea boxes lined up, and I could place the
> herb or tea mix for each one... except the one marked "Saleratus".  What
> is that?  I'd look it up myself, but my herb books are buried right now.
> I'm excavating the area in front of them, but I'm not there yet, and I
> thought I'd ask for help.

I thought I remembered from the Little House books that it was
baking-soda, and the OED says:

"An impure bicarbonate of potash containing more carbon dioxide than
pearl-ash does, much used as an ingredient in baking-powders. Now also
applied to sodium bicarbonate used for the same purpose. "

In other words, primitive baking soda, yes.

--
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at mail.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
"Personal's not the same as important." Captain Carrot in Terry Pratchett