[Sca-cooks] Spirits of hartshorn

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach ranvaig at columbus.rr.com:
>More on Hartshorn,
>
>from A Miscellany by Cariadoc and Elizabeth
>http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Miscellany.htm
>
>Hartshorn (Ammonium Carbonate) was used for stiffening jellies by 
>about the end of the sixteenth century (Wilson) but we have found no 
>reference to its use as a leavening agent prior to the late 18th 
>century.

Um, I'd bet this is actual hartshorn, chemically similar to 
isinglass, that was used for stiffening jellies, and not ammonium 
carbonate.

I have a friend who's one of the best-known research chemists in the 
world, and the history of chemistry is a hobby of his. I just called 
him; he's gonna call me back... apparently I interrupted his dinner, 
and having eaten his wife's cooking, I'd call me back later, too ;-)

I'm guessing, from not doing too well in my high-school chemistry, 
that hartshorn-the-salt/nitrogen compound was derived from 
hartshorn-the-gelatin-source (among other things) because of its high 
protein (and therefore high nitrogen) content, but I assume it took a 
good deal more processing to get it to that state.

"Dick's Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts And Processes" speaks of 
purifying hartshorn by burning pieces until it [the ashes?] are pure 
white, then grind into a fine powder. I assume it's an oxidation 
process, pretty much unchanged since people like Plat and Digby 
recommended such things for purifying salt.

Adamantius