Telling Tartaric Acid uses

Tartaric Acid is an organic acid that occurs naturally in fruits like bananas, tamarind and grapes. Processed tartaric acid is made by reducing the sediment or sludge known as "wine lees" that is left behind in wine fermentation vats after wine is bottled. People have used it for many years in different ways. Commercially, the food industry uses it as an additive and flavoring agent, and it is also employed in industries such as ceramics, textile printing, tanning, photography and pharmaceuticals.
As an acidulant, Tartaric Acid has a taste that is naturally sour and gives foods a sharp, tart flavor. Tartaric acid can also help set gels and preserve foods. It is often added to products like carbonated beverages, fruit jellies, gelatin and effervescent tablets. It is also an ingredient in cream of tartar, found in hard candy and different brands of baking powder to make baked goods rise.Tartar cream is typically used to stabilize egg white, and also an essential ingredient in baking powder. Industrial uses for tartaric acid include within the gold and silver plating process, cleaning and polishing metals, tanning leather and making blue ink for blueprints. Tartaric acid is also an ingredient in Rochelle Salt, which reacts with silver nitrate to create the silvering on mirrors. Rochelle Salt is also a laxative, according to The Chemical Company. Ester derivatives of tartaric acid can dye fabrics.

By-products obtained from wine manufacturers for the basis for the commercial production of tartaric acid. The sediments and other waste products that result from the fermentation of wine are heated with calcium hydroxide, a base. This causes calcium tartrate to form a precipitate, which is then treated with sulfuric acid to produce a combination of calcium sulfate and tartaric acid. After separation, the tartaric acid is then purified for commercial use.