Sources of Calcium Ions & application in Food
Calcium chloride is added to swimming pool water to make it a pH buffer and increase the hardness of the pool water, which can reduce the erosion of the pool wall concrete. According to Le Chatelier's principle and the common ion effect, increasing the calcium concentration in the pool water slows the dissolution of calcium compounds that are essential to the concrete structure.
Adding calcium chloride to marine aquarium water can increase the amount of bioavailable calcium in the water, and the mollusks and coelenterates cultured in the aquarium use it to form their calcium carbonate shells. Although calcium hydroxide or calcium reactors can also achieve the same purpose, adding calcium chloride is the fastest way and has the least effect on the water pH.
It can also solidify soybean curd to form tofu, and can be used as a raw material for cooking molecular cuisine by reacting with sodium alginate to gel the surface of vegetable and fruit juices to form caviar-like balls. It is added as an electrolyte to sports drinks or some soft drinks including bottled water. Since calcium chloride itself has a very strong salty taste, it can replace salt in the production of pickled cucumbers without increasing the sodium content of food. Calcium chloride's freezing point-lowering properties are used to delay the freezing of caramel in caramel-filled chocolate bars.
Calcium chloride is added to mineral-deficient beer brewing liquid because calcium ions are one of the most influential minerals in the beer brewing process. It affects the acidity of the malt juice and affects the function of yeast. Calcium chloride also brings sweetness to the brewed beer.