jane wrote:
On Thu, 08 Jun 2006 09:43:18 +0100, Sacha wrote:

~On 8/6/06 00:13, in article
. com, "Mike Lyle"
wrote:
~
~
~ Sacha wrote:
~ [...]
~
~ You get the citric or tartaric acid from a chemist who might have to order
~ it for you. The one I got it from is one who knows us and the person I
~ spoke to there this morning said she'd ordered it in because it's
~ elderflower time and she knew several people would want it. Each packet
~ contains 50g. However, I've heard of people having trouble finding it in
~ the past because of the illegal potential, so it's worth making sure your
~ local chemist will obtain it for you.
~ [...]
~
~ I can't imagine any chemist refusing to sell it in these little packets
~ just because of the risk of abuse; but I can sympathise if they don't
~ reckon they can sell enough to make it economic. I think big towns
~ still have home-brew shops -- there's one in Cheltenham, for example,
~ and a market stall in Carmarthen. The bloke in the Chelt shop told me
~ how the market for these things had shrunk over the past ten-twenty
~ years since the height of the home booze craze: even his wholesaler of
~ citric acid and such was buying a fraction of what he used to.
~
~I think you can still get it from the Tucker's Maltings shop in Newton
~Abbot, not far from us. I haven't tried that. I think the little packets
~might be a response to the risk of abuse, BTW. Last time a friend bought
~some for me and it came in a much larger tub, so perhaps it's being
~repackaged for that reason.

I get mine from the local Chinese supermarket but I think any Asian
shop will have it as the packs are from a well-known spices range
(Rajah I think, without phoning home to get Sir to check). I use it
for defurring kettles as it's cheaper than the proprietary descalers
and exactly the same active ingredient...


jane

Chiltern Hills, 140m above sea level.

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

For anyone having problems finding citric acid they can always add a
few extra lemons to the recipe as lemon juice is to all intents and
purposes a citric acid solution! It might even be that with 6 lemons
in there it is already acidic enough for some folks.

J.