SourceIngredients

Acidulants

63 ingredients from 24+ Chinese manufacturers

Acids differ in how sharp they taste, how fast they dissolve and how much acidity they deliver per unit weight. Citric Acid gives a quick clean sourness and dominates beverages, supplied as anhydrous or monohydrate, which changes both assay and caking behaviour. Lactic Acid is milder and rounder and is sold as a solution at a stated concentration. Fumaric Acid is the strongest per kilogramme but dissolves slowly in cold water, so it suits dry mixes and fillings. Phosphoric Acid gives the flat sharp acidity of cola drinks.

Two members work by delay rather than by taste. Glucono-Delta-Lactone hydrolyses gradually in water to gluconic acid, letting tofu and cured meat acidify slowly and evenly. Trisodium Citrate is a buffer and sequestrant rather than an acidulant, holding pH and binding calcium. Calcium Acetate contributes acidity together with calcium and is used against mould in bread.

Sourcing from China

Citric acid is the volume product, made by corn fermentation at a small number of very large plants in Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu, which makes its price a proxy for the whole category. Lactic acid capacity sits in Henan, Anhui and Inner Mongolia. Phosphoric acid is made near rock in Yunnan and Guizhou, and whether it comes from the thermal or the purified wet process route determines the arsenic and heavy metal profile, so the route should be stated. Sulphate ash, solution colour and residue on ignition separate suppliers.

All Acidulants

Manufacturers of Acidulants