Cream of tartar is another name for the acid potassium bitartrate and is a byproduct of winemaking.The acid crystallizes in wine casks during fermentation.The process for extracting the crystals from wine dates back to 9th century persia, but traces of the acid have been used to date the winemaking process back about 7000 years.Despite it’s auspicious history, cream of tartar wasn’t commercially available until the 1800s. Its most often used in baking as either a stabilizer or a leavening agent.
