Like citric acid, sodium citrate has a sour taste, as well as having a salty taste, like other salts. That's why it is commonly known as "sour salt". Sodium Citrate is the ingredient that gives club soda and many lemon-lime soft drinks their distinct flavour. It is used as a food additive for flavour and preservation qualities. It reduces the acidity in foods and is used in the modernist kitchen with acidic ingredients in the process of spherification. Sodium Citrate can also stabilize emulsified fat. Dihydrate type.