Curing salt

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Curing salt Prague powder No 1.jpg
Curing salt

Curing salt is used in meat processing to generate a pinkish shade and to extend shelf life. [1] It is both a color agent and a means to facilitate food preservation as it prevents or slows spoilage by bacteria or fungus. Curing salts are generally a mixture of sodium chloride (table salt) and sodium nitrite, and are used for pickling meats as part of the process to make sausage or cured meat such as ham, bacon, pastrami, corned beef, etc. Though it has been suggested that the reason for using nitrite-containing curing salt is to prevent botulism, a 2018 study by the British Meat Producers Association determined that legally permitted levels of nitrite have no effect on the growth of the Clostridium botulinum bacteria that causes botulism, in line with the UK's Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food opinion that nitrites are not required to prevent C. botulinum growth and extend shelf life. [2] (see also Sodium Nitrite: Inhibition of microbial growth).

Contents

Many curing salts also contain red dye that makes them pink to prevent them from being confused with common table salt. [3] Thus curing salt is sometimes referred to as "pink salt". Curing salts are not to be confused with Himalayan pink salt, a halite which is 97–99% sodium chloride (table salt) with trace elements that give it a pink color.

Types

There are many types of curing salts often specific to a country or region.

Prague Powder #1

One of the most common curing salts. It is also called Insta Cure #1 or Pink curing salt #1. It contains 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% table salt. [4] It is recommended for meats that require short cures and will be cooked and eaten relatively quickly. Sodium nitrite provides the characteristic flavor and color associated with curing.

Prague Powder #2

Also called Pink curing salt #2. It contains 6.25% sodium nitrite, 4% sodium nitrate, and 89.75% table salt. [4] The sodium nitrate found in Prague powder #2 gradually breaks down over time into sodium nitrite, and by the time a dry cured sausage is ready to be eaten, no sodium nitrate should be left. [3] For this reason it is recommended for meats that require long (weeks to months) cures, like hard salami and country ham.

Saltpetre

Another name for potassium nitrate (KNO3), saltpetre, also called saltpeter or nitrate of potash, has been a common ingredient of some types of salted meat for centuries [5] but its use has been mostly discontinued due to inconsistent results compared to nitrite compounds (KNO2, NaNO2, NNaNO2, etc.) Even so, saltpetre is still used in some food applications, such as some charcuterie products. It should not be confused with Chile saltpetre or Peru saltpetre, which is sodium nitrate (NaNO3).

See also

Related Research Articles

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Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of salt, with the aim of drawing moisture out of the food by the process of osmosis. Because curing increases the solute concentration in the food and hence decreases its water potential, the food becomes inhospitable for the microbe growth that causes food spoilage. Curing can be traced back to antiquity, and was the primary method of preserving meat and fish until the late 19th century. Dehydration was the earliest form of food curing. Many curing processes also involve smoking, spicing, cooking, or the addition of combinations of sugar, nitrate, and nitrite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potted meat</span> Form of traditional food preservation

Potted meat is a form of traditional food preservation in which hot cooked meat is placed in a pot, tightly packed to exclude air, and then covered with hot fat. As the fat cools, it hardens and forms an airtight seal, preventing some spoilage by airborne bacteria. Before the days of refrigeration, potted meat was developed as a way to preserve meat when a freshly slaughtered animal could not be fully eaten immediately.

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City ham is a term used in some parts of the United States for any lightly cured and/or smoked ham which must be refrigerated to preserve it. It is generally "wet cured", that is injected with or soaked in a brine solution containing high concentrations of salts. This is distinguished from country hams which are dry cured by being packed in crystalline curing salts and stored at room temperature. In parts of the U.S. where country ham is not consumed, city hams are often the only available hams and are just called ham.

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References

  1. Sárraga, C.; Gil, M.; Arnau, J.; Monfort, J. M.; Cussó, R. (1989). "Effect of curing salt and phosphate on the activity of porcine muscle proteases". Meat Science. 25 (4). Elsevier Science: 241–249. doi:10.1016/0309-1740(89)90042-9. PMID   22054673.
  2. Doward, Jamie (2019-03-23). "Revealed: no need to add cancer-risk nitrites to ham". The Observer. London. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-02-14. The results show that there is no change in levels of inoculated C botulinum over the curing process, which implies that the action of nitrite during curing is not toxic to C botulinum spores at levels of 150ppm [parts per million] ingoing nitrite and below.
  3. 1 2 Bitterman, M. (2010). "Salt Reference Guide". Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes. Random House. p. 187. ISBN   978-1580082624 . Retrieved 2013-08-16.
  4. 1 2 Gisslen, W. (2006). "Sausages and Cured Foods". Professional Cooking, College Version. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. p. 827. ISBN   9780471663744 . Retrieved 2013-08-16.
  5. Lauer, Klaus (1991). "The history of nitrite in human nutrition: A contribution from German cookery books". Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 44 (3): 261–264. doi:10.1016/0895-4356(91)90037-a. ISSN   0895-4356. PMID   1999685.