saleratus

Some people use only a tea spoonful of saleratus, to a pint of molasses, but it is much better with more, appearing in point of lightness like sponge cake.

From The New England Cook Book, or Young Housekeeper's Guide Being a Collection of the Most Valuable Receipts; Embracing all the Various Branches of Cookery, and Written in a Minute and Methodical Manner by Anonymous

It's only spring, yet they are thicker round here already than lumps of saleratus in those biscuit we've been talkin' about.

From The Postmaster by Joseph C. Lincoln

It is the greatest possible quandary to be in, to be set down with flour, water, and a tin of saleratus or baking-powder, and to have to make the bread or go without.

From Two Years in Oregon by Wallis Nash

Some housekeepers soak ripe peas over night, in water in which they have dissolved a little saleratus.

From Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages Including a System of Vegetable Cookery by William A. (William Andrus) Alcott

If your yeast appears to be sour, put a little saleratus in just before you put it into your bread; if it does not foam well, it is too stale to use.

From The New England Cook Book, or Young Housekeeper's Guide Being a Collection of the Most Valuable Receipts; Embracing all the Various Branches of Cookery, and Written in a Minute and Methodical Manner by Anonymous