Curing (food preservation)

Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of salt (also called sodium chloride) 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 way 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, nitrite. Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of salt (also called sodium chloride) 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 way 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, nitrite. Meat preservation in general (of meat from livestock, game, and poultry) comprises the set of all treatment processes for preserving the properties, taste, texture, and color of raw, partially cooked, or cooked meats while keeping them edible and safe to consume. Curing has been the dominant method of meat preservation for thousands of years, although modern developments like refrigeration and synthetic preservatives have begun to complement and supplant it. While meat-preservation processes like curing were mainly developed in order to prevent disease and to increase food security, the advent of modern preservation methods mean that in most developed countries today curing is instead mainly practised for its cultural value and desirable impact on the texture and taste of food. For lesser-developed countries, curing remains a key process in the production, transport and availability of meat. Some traditional cured meat (such as authentic Parma ham and some authentic Spanish chorizo and Italian salami, ...) are cured with salt alone. Today, potassium nitrate and sodium nitrite (in conjunction with salt) are the most common agents in curing meat, because they bond to the myoglobin and act as a substitute for the oxygen, thus turning myoglobin red . More recent evidence shows that these chemicals also inhibit the growth of the bacteria that cause the disease botulism. The combination of table salt with nitrates or nitrites, called curing salt, is often dyed pink to distinguish it from table salt. Neither table salt, nor any of the nitrites or nitrates commonly used in curing (e.g. sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, and potassium nitrate) is naturally pink. Untreated meat decomposes rapidly if it is not preserved, at a speed that depends on several factors, including ambient humidity, temperature, and the presence of pathogens. Most meats cannot be kept at room temperature in excess of a few days without spoiling. If kept in excess of this time, meat begins to change color and exude a foul odor, indicating the decomposition of the food. Ingestion of such spoiled meat can cause serious food poisonings, like botulism. Salt-curing processes have been developed since antiquity in order to ensure food safety without relying on artificial anti-bacterial agents.