invent

Eben Norton Horsford, a chemist and professor at Harvard University, invented baking powder in 1856. Prior to this invention, cooks used pearl ash or saleratus (potassium carbonate) as a leavening agent, but these substances left a bitter taste in baked goods. Horsford’s baking powder was the first double-acting baking powder, meaning that it reacted twice: once when it was mixed …