What is the difference between food grade lime and non or is there? Is this the same as the garden center lime?

Lynn

-- Lynn (johnnypfc@yahoo.com), October 14, 2001

Answers

not sure there is such a thing,, why would you need it? Food GRADE refers to something that can be used on or around food. Why would you want lime near your food?

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 14, 2001.

Lime used in pickling is food grade. You buy it powdered in small bags whereever you buy home canning goods.

-- Susan (smtroxel@socket.net), October 14, 2001.

The non-food-grade lime, being pretty caustic, would not be a good bedtime snack. Big difference.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), October 15, 2001.

Lime pretty much comes in three different forms -

#1 - LimeSTONE is calcium carbonate. Basic in its pH but not caustic. This is essentially the stuff you buy at the garden store for sweetening your soil.

#2 - QUICKlime is limestone, seashells, or some other lime source that has been roasted at very high temperatures. The heat drives off the water and carbon locked up in the calcium carbonate leaving calcium oxide. The stuff is pretty caustic and is used in cements and so on. It's also a pretty good desiccant for some purposes.

#3 - HYRDATED lime is quicklime that has been "slaked" with water to become calcium hydroxide. It's mildly caustic but not as much as quicklime. It has various and sundry uses some of which is for making pickles, hulling corn for making masa or hominy and so on.

Now foodgrade lime is generally going to be hydrated lime most commonly available as pickling lime. What makes it food grade is the amount and types of non-lime contaminants it contains. Limestone being a natural material is seldom found in a pure state and will often contain high levels of other materials. Only limestone that has acceptable levels and types of these other materials can be used to make foodgrade lime.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), October 15, 2001.