Fluff master: The rise of Eno

Open a Victorian novel and it isn’t long before one encounters a doctor prescribing, to some heartsick heroine or beloved papa, a restorative spell in a region with hot springs (Bath, in England; Spa, in Belgium).

The minerals in these springs have long been known to have healing properties. By the 18th century (a tad before the Victorian era, which stretched from 1837 to 1901), doctors in Europe were starting to decode why.

Around the mid-1800s, then, in what is known as the Golden Age of Chemistry, they were discovering that minerals such as Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) and Glauber’s salt (sodium sulphate), in spring water made it restorative. And that these could also be manufactured and sold.

So it was that, in 1852, a British pharmacist named James Crossley Eno created a mix that he named after himself, as other food entrepreneurs of the time were doing. (Think of Henri Nestle and his infant milk formula; Julius Maggi and his powdered instant pea soup; Milton Hershey and his chocolatecoated caramels).

Eno called his restorative powder a “fruit salt”, because the acids he used in the mix came from citrussy produce. He tested it on batches of sailors, and found that it aided in digestion. By the 1940s, Eno was being advertised internationally, as a mild cure for digestive discomfort.

Because its main ingredients are sodium bicarbonate and citric acid, it does provide relief from acidity. Drop Eno into water, and the result is Sodium bicarbonate + Citric acid = Carbon dioxide + Water + Sodium citrate. In the stomach, the sodium citrate works as a buffering agent.

Here’s why: An average adult stomach makes about two to three litres of digestive juices a day. A key component of these juices is hydrochloric acid (HCL), which helps break food down during digestion.

The stomach has its own defences against HCL. Essentially, it sheds its lining and generates a new one, about every three days.

Now, if a person goes too many hours without food, eats a lot of spicy or fatty foods, or ingests too much caffeine, the stomach acids are intensified, bubble up, and overflow into the oesophagus, causing painful acid reflux. The sodium citrate counterbalances the acidity, and keeping ph levels temporarily stable.

After thus making its way from restorative salt to digestive aid, the brand underwent another transformation. By the 1980s, it was being adopted by busy homemakers, as a quick-acting leavening agent.

Numerous cookbooks and women’s magazines listed Eno as an ingredient in recipes for dishes ranging from breads to jalebis and appams. Many home chefs in India still use it in idlis and dhoklas.

Eno has significant drawbacks as a leavening agent. Where baking soda and baking powder help batter rise by producing carbon-dioxide as the mix heats, Eno reacts instantly. This means that the batter will not rise much more in the oven than it has outside it. And that’s if the batter is thick enough to trap the carbon dioxide produced. If the batter isn’t thick enough, the gas escapes before the mix is in the oven, and the result is a deflated or collapsed confection.

Idli and dhokla batters are in the Goldilocks zone, in this respect: not too thin, not too thick, but just right. As a result, Eno can help a busy homemaker do away with the long fermentation process altogether.

I like to think that if James Eno had eaten a dhokla cooked in this way, he would have appreciated the inventiveness.