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If you’ve ever struggled to make aranch-flavored snack mix to rival the powdery, zesty platonic ideal of Hidden Valley’s seasoning packets, or a simple batch of salt-and-pepperpotato chipsthat have the same peppery bite as Kettle Chips, you might have noticed a small element missing—a faint little tickle to the palate that keeps you ever-reaching for the next handful.
Entercitric acid——干粉状,crunchy-snack-friendly alternative for the squeeze of lemon or drizzle of vinegar you might use to finish a soup or a sheet pan full of roasted vegetables. The ingredient is sold in granules that are sometimes labeled “lemon salt,” even though there’s actually no salt (or lemons) involved. Rather than carrying the pithy bitterness of lemon, citric acid packs a pure, sour punch. And when used discerningly, it can transform a blandly salty snack into something dynamic that thrills with each bite.
The organic compound, which is cultivated from a fungus, is used as a preservative and a source of acidity in many processed foods (think: Takis, salt-and-vinegar chips, Sprite). That same preservative qualitymeans that a sprinklecan keep that freshly cut half of avocado or apple from oxidizing and turning an unappetizing shade of brown. The ingredient’s concentrated acidity also makes it a common choice, alongside distilled white vinegar, for cleaning buildup in coffee makers and other household appliances.
Plenty of snack mixes could stand a tiny sprinkle of citric acid to highlight the brighter notes in theWorcestershire sauceor hot sauce used as a seasoning, but it’s in the realm of popcorn that citric acid really pulls its weight. While a squeeze of lime juice over a bowl of spicy popcorn might sound nice in theory, it will also turn that popcorn into shriveled, soggy little pellets. Citric acid, on the other hand, leaves that popcorn structure totally intact. Miss the fresh lime flavor? Grate some zest over your popcorn, too, to add the fruit’s scent and color without the extra liquid.
To bring this inexpensive little wonder ingredient into your snack routine, start witha pot of stovetop popcorn, drizzle with a couple tablespoons of melted butter, and season with a big pinch of salt and a tiny pinch of citric acid. Using too much citric acid can leave your savory snacks tasting dangerously like Sour Patch Kids, so start with a very small amount, and taste as you go.
You could use citric acid to make a mean lemon-pepper snack mix, and I like to use it to highlight the fruity notes of dried orange peel intogarashi popcorn, but you don’t have to stick purely to citrusy flavor combos. Try using a pinch to cut through the mellow umami of your next batch of nutritional yeast-coated popcorn, or take a tip from Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema and pair citric acid with truffle butter. The combo shouldn’t work, but somehow those bright notes add dimension to the earthy mushroom flavor. Want to feel like a food scientist? Take a look at the ingredients of your favorite flavor of potato chips, and see if you can recreate it usingthe contents of your spice rack. With a little packet of citric acid, anything’s possible.
