smaller doses of pure nitrite This is now the rule except in the production of traditional dry-cured hams and bacons, where prolonged ripening benefits from the ongoing bacterial production of nitrite from nitrate We now know that nitrite does several important things for cured meats It contributes its own sharp, piquant flavor It reacts in the meat to form nitric oxide (NO), which retards the development of rancid flavors in the fat by preemptively binding to the iron atom in myoglobin, thus preventing the iron from causing fat oxidation The same iron binding produces the characteristic bright pink-red color of cured meat Finally, nitrite suppresses the growth of various bacteria, most importantly the spores of the oxygenintolerant bacterium that causes deadly botulism Clostridium botulinum can grow inside sausages that have been insufficiently or unevenly salted; German scientists first named the poisoning it causes Wurstvergiftung, or sausage disease (botulus is Latin for sausage) Nitrite apparently inhibits important bacterial enzymes and interferes with energy production Traditional Versions of Cured Pork Of curing hams: This is the way to cure hams in jars or tubs… Cover the bottom of the jar or tub with salt and put in a ham, skin down Cover the whole with salt and put another ham on top, and cover this in the same manner Be careful that meat does not touch meat So proceed, and when you have packed all the hams, cover the top with salt so that no meat can be seen, and smooth it out even When the hams have been in salt five days, take them all out with the salt and repack them, putting those which were on top at the bottom… After the twelfth day remove the hams, brush off the salt, and hang them for two days in the wind On the third day wipe ... the salt and repack them, putting those which were on top at the bottom… After the twelfth day remove the hams, brush off the salt, and hang them for two days in the wind On the third day wipe... hams in jars or tubs… Cover the bottom of the jar or tub with salt and put in a ham, skin down Cover the whole with salt and put another ham on top, and cover this in the same manner Be careful... So proceed, and when you have packed all the hams, cover the top with salt so that no meat can be seen, and smooth it out even When the hams have been in salt five days, take them all out with the salt and