The chemical compound calcium acetate is the calcium salt of acetic acid. It has the formula Ca(C2H3OO)2. Its standard name is calcium acetate, while calcium ethanoate is the systematic IUPAC name. An older name is acetate of lime. The anhydrous form is very hygroscopic; therefore the monohydrate (Ca(CH3COO)2•H2O, CAS ) is the common form.
If an alcohol is added to a saturated solution of calcium acetate, a semisolid, flammable gel forms that is much like "canned heat" products such as Sterno. Chemistry teachers often prepare "California Snowballs", a mixture of calcium acetate solution and ethanol. The resulting gel is whitish in color, and can be formed to resemble a snowball.
Calclacite is a name for calcium acetate chloride pentahydrate, which is treated as mineral species but possess anthropogenic origin.