Triethyl Citrate
What it does
Solvent/carrier; foam stabiliser.
How it's made
Made from citric acid and ethanol.
Triethyl citrate is a carrier and solvent used to dissolve and carry flavourings and colours, and to stabilise the foam in products such as whipped egg white. It is an ester of citric acid and ethanol — essentially citric acid with its acidic groups "capped" by alcohol, which makes it an oily, non-acidic liquid.
It is made by an esterification reaction: food-grade citric acid (produced by fermentation) is reacted with ethanol (ethyl alcohol) in the presence of a catalyst, joining three ethanol molecules to the three acid groups of citric acid and releasing water. The reaction is driven to completion and the water removed.
The crude ester is purified by distillation to give a clear, odourless, oily liquid. Because both starting materials are food-grade and the product is well defined, triethyl citrate is a clean, neutral carrier that mixes readily with flavour and colour concentrates.
Possible reactions
Generally safe.