Curing refers to modifications of the meat that affect preservation, flavor color, and tenderness due to added curing ingredients.
The curing process is achieved by adding a number of curing agents to the meat, each ingredient having unique characteristics and playing an important role in the process.
Cured meats are attractive in their color, flavor, texture, and are popular because they combine variety with convenience of relatively long shelf –life and storage stability.
The major ingredients include salt, sugar, nitride and /or nitrate sodium ascorbate and often phosphate.
The characteristics cured meat color that develops is attributed to the formation of heat-stable nitrogen monoxide complexes with muscles myoglobine.
Technologies used for curing were greatly refined during the 1950s and 1960s; automation of processes and use of reducing agents, such as ascorbates and erythorbate, was introduced to speed up the curing process.
Curing is designed to grossly alter the nature of the meat and produce distinct products such as smoked and salted bacon, ham, corned beef and highly flavored sausages including bologna and frankfurters.
Meat curing process
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