Is rochelle salt edible?

A. Rochelle salt is potassium sodium tartrate [on eBay or Amazon] . I do not know a source of BP standard, but it is widely available from chemical supply houses; however, I would not suggest using this source as a medicine as it is almost certainly not BP standard. Although Rochelle salt has medically been used as a mild purgative, I'm sure there are better ways of stopping smoking! As an example of its assessed toxicity, it has an LD50 in rats (oral intake) of 1250 mg/kg, compared with salt (NaCl) of 3,000 mg/kg and sodium bicarbonate (often used as an indigestion treatment) of 4,420 mg/kg. If you are adamant about trying it, go to a good pharmacist and ask their advice. Since you live in Nottingham, try Boots! Perhaps they will suggest a more conventional anti-smoking treatment.

A. I know Rochelle salt was used medicinally for some time, but I don't know about its use to quit smoking. However it's simple to make your own rochelle salt from two ingredients in your kitchen, just baking soda [on eBay or Amazon] and cream of tartar [on eBay or Amazon] . For a recipe, go to: www.cheminst.ca/ncw/crystal/xlroch.html ⇩

[Ed. note: The above link has broken; thankfully, Archive.org's wonderful Wayback Machine saved a copy ]