Salting

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Salting of lemons in the production of salted lemons

Salting is next to the dry one of the oldest methods of preservation of food . The salt makes the moisture in the products unusable for microorganisms . To be reliable, the salt must penetrate the food completely and evenly. Dry spices can also be added to the salt to improve the taste and saltpeter or nitrite as an additional preservative , in which case the process is called curing .

Salt is often used in air drying to aid shelf life. Meat, fish as well as many types of vegetables and fruits are suitable. Similarly, raw skins , preserved instead of drying by salting until further processing.

In Europe, North Africa and Asia, salt deposits were used to preserve food as early as the Neolithic . Today, gentler types of preservation such as freezing and sterilizing are available, but some culinary specialties have been preserved from the old technique of salting.

method

The prepared food is placed in suitable containers, e.g. B. stoneware or glass, layered in layers, salt is sprinkled between the layers. Most of the time, the top layer is weighed down to make it easier for the salt to penetrate the cells. Food stored in this way must be checked regularly, as components of the product can settle which remain perishable. These are carefully removed.

In this way z. B. canned anchovies, sprats or sardines. In the case of fish, fish oil escapes under a weight in the first few days, which could become rancid and must therefore be skimmed off. The vessels can then be sealed and stored for years. Even if there is no more putrefaction, ripening takes place, so that some foods only reach their highest culinary value after one or two years.

Fermentation or lactic acid fermentation

For some products, e.g. B. cucumbers or green beans, juice comes out through a precisely measured amount of salt. The microorganisms it contains cause slow fermentation in which sugar is turned into acid. This process is also supported by weighting and can be recognized by the foaming gas bubbles. There must be no air to the vegetables, otherwise the fermentation would be interrupted.

When this process is completed after a few weeks, the vegetables can be used or stored closed for a few months. For a longer shelf life, further preservation is necessary, for example by boiling . Other seasoning ingredients can also be used when boiling. Well-known examples of preservation through salting are sauerkraut , pickled cucumbers and sour beans , also called salt beans.

Curing

In addition to the salt, saltpeter or, today, mostly nitrite is used, which strengthens the bacteria-inhibiting effect of the salt and leads to the desired reddening.

Dry curing

This method removes a lot of water from the product and ensures a long shelf life ( Aw value ). The product is rubbed with a mixture of salt and saltpeter ( nitrate ) or nitrite as well as other flavoring ingredients such as sugar and spices and stored (sometimes weighted down) at low temperatures (2 to 7 ° C). By osmosis it comes to the exchange of salt with the meat juice, salt binds the water, thus it is not harmful microorganisms more. The nitrite, which was either added directly or was created from nitrate through the action of certain microorganisms, also maintains the red color of the meat, which would turn gray if salted with pure table salt , as nitrogen oxide, which is a compound with, is split off the muscle pigment myoglobin . In order to reduce the hardening of the meat by the saltpetre, you can rub the meat with sugar, honey or syrup beforehand.

Salting in brine

Another possibility is curing in a brine made from water, sugar, salt, nitrite or nitrate and spices. This method is more labor-intensive, but produces a different consistency than dry curing the meat: it becomes significantly more juicy and much more tender. Here, too, water is withdrawn, although the meat is in an aqueous solution. This effect is basically known to everyone, it is the reason why you cannot drink sea water. Through diffusion , the salt content of brine and meat equalize in the course of the curing process. The shelf life depends on the salt concentration in the brine. Very strong solutions can preserve meat for several months. However, such cured meat must be soaked for a long time before use. Here, too, weighting down is necessary to ensure that the cured food is always covered by the brine.

If you use a milder salt solution, not for preservation reasons, but to achieve a certain taste. The meat no longer needs to be soaked before consumption. However, it still lasts for several weeks. The curing time can also be reduced in this case, but depending on the type and size of the starting product, salting still takes several days.

Others

  • Brine meat is a specialty in the Spessart , which is cooked in the embers as part of larger celebrations.
  • Olives are first hit with a hammer, watered and then soaked in salt water. To make them milder, you can soak them in a mixture of water and wood ash beforehand. Black ripe olives have to be pierced, then you can simply layer them in a basket with salt. After about a week, the salt is washed off and can then be stored in oil for several months.
  • Salted lemons are a Moroccan specialty. To do this, whole unpeeled lemons are cut all around and layered with salt.
  • Sole eggs are hard-boiled eggs pickled in a strong saline solution.
  • Kimchi is milk-sour fermented cabbage, which is pickled with spices, especially chilli. It is an indispensable part of Korean cuisine .
  • Brine cheese is preserved by the salt both when it is made in brine and when stored in brine.
  • The term salting also exists in another context. In physical chemistry, salting-in or salting- in effect is understood as the effect of certain salts that can increase the solubility of hydrophobic particles (atoms, molecules, macromolecules) in aqueous solution (see also Hofmeister series ).

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