How is lye used in cooking?

Answer 1

Food uses of sodium hydroxide (LYE) include washing or chemical peeling of fruits and vegetables, chocolate and cocoa processing, caramel color production, poultry scalding, soft drink processing, and thickening ice cream. Olives are often soaked in sodium hydroxide to soften them, while pretzels and German lye rolls are glazed with a sodium hydroxide solution before baking to make them crisp. Due to the difficulty in obtaining food grade sodium hydroxide in small quantities for home use, Sodium carbonate is often used in place of sodium hydroxide[8]. Specific foods processed with sodium hydroxide include: * The Scandinavian delicacy known as lutefisk (from lutfisk, "lye fish"). * Hominy is dried maize (corn) kernels reconstituted by soaking in lye-water. These expand considerably in size and may be further processed by frying to make corn nuts or by drying and grinding to make grits. Nixtamal is similar, but uses calcium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide. * Sodium hydroxide is also the chemical that causes gelling of egg whites in the production of Century eggs. * German pretzels are poached in a boiling sodium carbonate solution or cold sodium hydroxide solution before baking, which contributes to their unique crust. * Most yellow coloured Chinese noodles are made with lye-water but are commonly mistaken for containing egg.

Answer 2

It breaks down fibers and gives food a different texture.

Answer 3

Lye water used to be used for bagel cooking back in the time of the Renaissance.

Answer 4

Lye can not be ingested so it is not used for cooking. Some olives are cured in lye as part of the curing process.