An Unusual Chemical Leavening:
Hartshorn
The leavening that doesn’t involve an acid-
base reaction is ammonium salts —
ammonium carbonate and/or carbamate —
which were once known as “hartshorn”
because they were produced by the
distillation of deer antlers. (Hartshorn was
also a common source of gelatin.) When
these compounds are heated to 140ºF/60ºC,
they decompose into two leavening gases,
carbon dioxide and ammonia, and don’t
produce water. They’re especially suited to
thin, very dry cookies and crackers with a
large surface area to release the pungent
ammonia during baking.Baking Powders and Other
Chemical Leaveners
Yeast cells produce carbon dioxide slowly,
over the course of an hour or more, so the