desiccation doesn’t cause cooking and compaction of the tissue, relatively thick pieces can be dried and reconstituted Salted Meats: Hams, Bacon, Corned Beef Like drying, salting preserves meat by depriving bacteria and molds of water The addition of salt — sodium chloride — to meat creates such a high concentration of dissolved sodium and chloride ions outside the microbes that water inside their cells is drawn out, salt is drawn in, and their cellular machinery is disrupted The microbes either die or slow down drastically The muscle cells too are partly dehydrated and absorb salt Traditional cured meats, made by dry-salting or brining large cuts for several days, are about 60% moisture and 5–7% salt by weight The resulting hams (from pig legs), bacon (from pig sides), corned beef (“corn” coming from the English word for grains, including salt grains), and similar products keep uncooked for many months Useful Impurities: Nitrates and Nitrites Sodium chloride is not the only salt with an important role in salt-curing The others were unpredictable mineral impurities in the rock, sea, and vegetable salts originally used for curing One of these, potassium nitrate (KNO3), was discovered during the Middle Ages and named saltpeter because it was found as a salt-like crystalline outgrowth on rocks In the 16th or 17th century, it was found to brighten meat color and improve its flavor, safety, and storage life Around 1900, German chemists discovered that during the cure certain salt-tolerant bacteria transform a small portion of the nitrate into nitrite (NO2), and that nitrite rather than nitrate is the true active ingredient Once this was known, producers could eliminate saltpeter from the curing mixture and replace it with much ... small portion of the nitrate into nitrite (NO2), and that nitrite rather than nitrate is the true active ingredient Once this was known, producers could eliminate saltpeter from the curing mixture and. .. unpredictable mineral impurities in the rock, sea, and vegetable salts originally used for curing One of these, potassium nitrate (KNO3), was discovered during the Middle Ages and named saltpeter because...grains), and similar products keep uncooked for many months Useful Impurities: Nitrates and Nitrites Sodium chloride is not the only salt with an important role in salt-curing The others were