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A Salt of Tartaric Acid
L-tartrate is the salt form of tartaric acid, the acid best known from grapes and wine. A look at what an L-tartrate is, where tartaric acid comes from, how it was named, and the paired forms it takes.
It is a salt of an old and familiar acid: tartaric acid, the one that settles in wine.
L-tartrate is the salt form of tartaric acid, an acid found in grapes and long tied to winemaking. What follows is the story of the salt and its acid: what it is, where it comes from, and the forms it takes.
A salt, of tartaric acid
An L-tartrate is a salt of tartaric acid. Tartaric acid is a small organic acid found in many plants, most famously in grapes, and the "-tartrate" ending simply marks its salts and esters. When an active compound is paired with tartaric acid, the result is often written as an "L-tartrate."
The "tartar" in the name is old. It comes from the crust, once called tartar, that forms inside barrels as wine ages: a tartrate now known as cream of tartar. The "L" is a note of chemistry, marking the mirror-image form of tartaric acid found in the living world.
This piece follows the salt and its acid: what an L-tartrate is, where tartaric acid comes from, and the paired forms it takes, set within the wider study of how the body sustains itself across time.
The salt
The crust in the barrel
Tartar: the crystalline crust that settles in wine barrels, and the old root beneath the name tartrate.
The salt
L-tartrate, in brief
A few of the plain facts about the salt and its acid.
The Name
"Tartrate" marks the salts of tartaric acid; "tartar" is the crust that forms in wine.
A Salt of an Acid
An L-tartrate is a salt or ester of tartaric acid, a small plant acid.
Where It Comes From
Tartaric acid is found in grapes and other fruits, and long tied to winemaking.
Paired Forms
Active compounds paired with tartaric acid are often written as L-tartrates.
The forms
One acid, many salts
From cream of tartar to paired compounds, tartaric acid appears in a range of salts, each written as a tartrate.
The forms it takes
Tartaric acid, and its salts
A few of the forms the acid takes, described by their chemistry, not their use.
Tartaric Acid
- Chemistry
- A small organic acid with two acid groups
- Found in
- Grapes and other fruits
- Noted for
- The parent acid of every tartrate.
L-Tartaric Acid
- Chemistry
- The mirror-image form found in the living world
- Form
- The "L" in L-tartrate
- Noted for
- The common form present in grapes.
Cream of Tartar
- Chemistry
- A potassium salt of tartaric acid
- Form
- The crust that forms as wine ages
- Noted for
- The tartrate found in the kitchen.
A Paired L-Tartrate
- Chemistry
- An active compound bound to tartaric acid
- Form
- Written with the "L-tartrate" ending
- Noted for
- One of many salt forms tartaric acid makes.
The salt
A single salt
Beneath the name and its forms sits one old acid and its salts, the tartrates, named for the crust in the barrel.
Up close
The salt, in detail
Tartaric acid as a pure crystalline solid.
Tartar, the crust that settles in wine.
The salts and paired forms built on the acid.
The salt, one by one
L-tartrate, one by one
The plain facts about the salt and its acid, from root to paired forms:
In the literature
A long-known acid
Tartaric acid and its salts, the tartrates, named for the crust that forms in aging wine and drawn largely from grapes, have been described widely across the scientific literature. The discussion is broad and long-standing.
This article is provided for educational and informational purposes only and has been reviewed against FDA and FTC guidelines to ensure it does not make any health, disease, or treatment claim. Any research or studies referenced were conducted independently and did not involve Codeage products; no Codeage product has been used in any study or to establish, prove, or imply any benefit. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Codeage products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
The salt
A salt, and its name
L-tartrate is, in the end, a salt with an old name: tartar, the crust that settles in wine, and tartaric acid, the grape acid beneath it. It is one salt form among many, described here by its chemistry and its history alone.
An old acid from the grape, and the salts it makes: the tartrates, named for tartar.
In closing
A salt of tartaric acid
Read back to its root, an L-tartrate is a salt of tartaric acid, the grape acid whose crust in the wine barrel, once called tartar, gave the whole family its name. The "L" marks the mirror-image form found in the living world, and paired compounds bound to the acid take the "L-tartrate" ending.
None of it is a secret, and none of it is a promise. It is simply what the salt is, and where its name comes from, one old acid set within the wider story of how the body sustains itself across time.
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