Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1895-06-12
HOME CURED MEATS.
How a Farmer That Understands the Busi-
 ness May Make Money.

How a Farmer That Understands the Basi-
 ness May Make Money.
 Curing meat properly for the mar ket is frequently the surest way to make profits, especially when fresh pork is so low that it hardly pays to raise it. Generally home cured meat can find a local market at fair prices, many consumers preferring such meats to those cured on a large scale by the packing houses. Good, home smoked hams or shoulders are sweet CT and juicier, and farmer can oom- mand fancy prices for his products if he understands his work.
 Pickled meats are very popular in these days, and there is a good de- mand for them. To pickle shoulders, bellies and hams or any kind of meat about seven pounds of salt should be mixed thoroughly in four gallons of water with five pounds of sugar and an ounce and a half of saltpeter. Boil this mixture in some large tin vessel, and then as the scum and dirt rise to the surface skim of care fully, Next pack the meats to be pickled very carefully into a water tight barrel that has been previous ly washed and scalded out. Pour the curing mixture while cold over this meat until every part of the contents is covered. If the meats ab- sorb some of the liquid, more must be poured on so that no meat Is ex- posed to the air. If tho meat is to be kept for 0 year, the pickling proc ess should be repeated in about a week. Pour off the old liquid, dry of the meat and scrape of any mold that might be on it and then pickle again with new sweet brine, as before. This mixture is sufficient for 100 pounds of meat, and the same should be added for every additional 100 pounds.
 In smoking hams and shoulders @ great deal depends upon the smoke house, for a good one is really a rare thing to find upon the farm. The smokehouse, to do we'll, must be per fectly dry and when closed free from frost. It must be well ventilated. If very fine wire netting covers over tho vent holes in summer, the meats can be kept in the smokehouse with out danger of being infected with insects. In the lower part of the smokehouse the smoke should be made, and this should pass through holes in the upper partition, where the meat is hung. The upper story can in this way be kept scrupulously clean, and this is Q very important point. Where the fire and meat are all put in the same place without any partition between, the ashes from the fire and dirt will be sure to get on the meat. Blackened meat is hardly as salable anywhere, and it is hard to smoke meat to crisp brown without blackening 1t without hay ing the fire chamber separated from the place where the meat is put. The smoke should be a light, thin smoke and not a deep, black, cloudy smoke that will cover everything with soot A layer of corncobs and then one of maple or oak sawdust then pieces of wood and then more sawdust until the furnace is full will make clean, thin smoke all night. Pine sticks or sawdust should never be used, as it taints the meat, but hickory is good. Every few days tho outside air should be admitted by opening the door. as this will dry the meat.
 Before smoking rub the hams and sides thoroughly on both sides with a mixture of salt and saltpeter and then pack the meat closely, salting down between each layer. The meat should remain packed in this way from two to four weeks, according to the size, and then it will be ready for smoking. .-Germantown Telegraph.