McStill wrote:But I've had some red wine barrel staves that were stained & had a white sugary coating on the stain, I loved the flavour it gave my UJ :handgestures-thumbupleft: I just thought it was sugars that stuck to the staves during the aging process :think:
I did a quick google on the white salt stuck to the inside of the barrel, it turned out to be Cream of Tartar: Other names: potassium acid tartrate, potassium bitartrate.
Cream of tartar is a by-product of the wine industry. A crystalline acid forms on the inside of wine barrels. The barrels are scraped and the sediment is purified and ground to form cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is used to stabilize egg whites when making meringue or as an addition to certain frostings to produce a creamy product.
Read more from GourmetSleuth.com:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Dictionary ... z24QqS47p0