Charcuterie - Curing by Santosh Malkoti
Channel: CHITKARA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH & INNOVATION NETWORK
Date: 2020-08-24

Curing is a process of surrounding meat, fish or poultry with salt. The salt contains curing agents and is called curing salts. Curing is a method of preservation and the process dehydrates the meat and thereby preserves it.
Curing is one of the most important things to do when preparing meat for charcuterie as it is meant to prevent bacterial contamination. Curing of food means preserving food and this particularly becomes necessary in charcuterie production, which is very vulnerable to bacterial contamination called botulism. It is caused by a bacterium called clostridium botulinum, which can thrive at temperatures as low as 4 degree C. Since ages, raw or unrefined salt has been the most commonly used curing agent in food, be it pickles or cold meat. In simple terms, we can say that curing is treating meat with salts so as to preserve it.