Ascorbic Acid

[loafer]

I have a cheap and easy local source for ascorbic acid (I use it for acidifying fruits before drying), but the citric acid I've found is much more expensive. I'm a chemist and I know the chemical side of things, but can anyone tell me a practical reason that I can't use ascorbic acid instead of citric acid in my cheese recipes when citric is called for?  I could chemically tell you the ratios of equivalency, but does anyone have practical experience on what the ratio would be?

-Loafer

[Cartierusm]

Could be taste, where are you looking for citric acid, is only a couple of dollars? Just use lemon juice, citric acid. That's what the ancients used.

[Cheese Head]

Hi loafer and welcome to the forum, there is a bunch of info on Wikipedia about Ascorbic Acid, but sounds like as a Chemist you are in best positon to answer.

Personally I have never used it and there are very few recipes that call for Citric Acid. I made an info page on Acids but nothing on Ascorbic Acid.

Good luck.

[jsbyers]

I was at the wine and beer supply store this morning to get some stuff for a mead that I'm making. I picked up a bottle of acid blend used for wine and noticed it had 3 ingredients, citric acid, tartaric acid, and malic acid.  Wonder about using some of that in a cheese recipe. 

[Cartierusm]

You were already there why not just buy some citric acid? It probably won't hurt, I have the exact proportions of those 3 ingridients if you need them.