Homestead Meat Curing :: Preserving Meat with Traditional Methods | Homestead Honey (2024)

FAQs

Homestead Meat Curing :: Preserving Meat with Traditional Methods | Homestead Honey? ›

Meat curing relies on removing or reducing moisture in order to create an environment that is both inhospitable to the bacteria that cause spoil, and beneficial to bacteria that will protect the meat and add flavor. The “good” bacteria are salt-loving, thus the meat curing process begins with salt.

Normally, the roasted meat pieces would be dipped, then removed to be stored in a raised, grass-thatched wooden vessel called ikumbi. The honey acts as a way to preserve the meat without refrigeration by drawing out moisture.

The most common way of achieving this is by using salt to draw the moisture out and create a new, more shelf-stable substance known as “cured meat.” People have been curing meat for centuries, mainly as a way to preserve their food.

Meat curing and smoking are two of the oldest methods of meat preservation. They not only improve the safety and shelf life of meat products but also enhance the colour and flavour. Smoking of meat decreases the available moisture on the surface of meat products, preventing microbial growth and spoilage.

It is a very old way to preserve meat. Meat is cut into chunks and layered in a barrel or earthen crock with salt. Each chunk is completely surrounded by salt. Salting will pull the moisture out of the meat and produces an environment that will not allow for bacterial growth.

For a shorter preservation time, you can refrigerate your fruit of choice in a jar filled with honey. This will keep your fruit fresh for a couple of weeks.

Dehydration was the earliest form of food curing. Many curing processes also involve smoking, spicing, cooking, or the addition of combinations of sugar, nitrate, and nitrite.

Unlike that chicken breast that you took out of the fridge a few days ago, cured meat is safe to eat as long as proper safety guidelines are followed. The main component that sets rancid and cured meats apart is moisture. A steak that sits out in the sun all day will grow harmful bacteria which can make you sick.

Dry curing: The most traditional dry curing method involves submerging a piece of meat in a container of salt (and occasionally other herbs and whole spices) for an extended period. Moisture leeches out of the meat during the salting process, preserving the ingredient while cultivating an intensely savory flavor.

How long does canned meat last? ›

High acid foods such as tomatoes and other fruit will keep their best quality up to 18 months; low acid foods such as meat and vegetables, 2 to 5 years. While extremely rare, a toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum is the worst danger in canned goods.

Smoke it. Smoking is a very simple process but is an excellent way to preserve meat and fish for extended storage. Long smoking and heavily salting meats and fish may last for months. The two methods that come to mind are using a salt brine and the other is smoking it and drying the meat in the sun.

They placed the meat on a layer of salt and covered it with more salt, sometimes mixed with pepper and brown sugar. Salt draws moisture out of meat and thus stops the process of rotting. Some people later stored the meat buried in shelled corn, because the corn was a good insulator.

This process involved soaking the meat in a salt water mixture and was good for larger cuts, like hams. Meat could be stored in the brine and packed tightly in covered jars or casks in a cool environment for months.

Always Mix Local Hive Honey with Another Liquid

Honey's sticky consistency can also make it hard to brush, baste, or mop onto your meat. Whisking it into another liquid – even just water – will help, and if you use a natural tenderizer like citrus juice, your marinade will do double duty, making your cuts even better.

Honey is also a great binder and thickener for amping up or sweetening sauces, marinades, dips, and dressings. For instance, a good beef marinade can be a simple dose of honey along with soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, fresh rosemary, green onions, and Dijon mustard.

Our Honey Ham is an old fashion style dry cured ham. Over 99% of the hams that are in the marketplace are hams that have had the brining solution pumped into them before the smoking process. The brining solution consists of curing salts and water; many hams contain as much as 35% water.

Meat products can be produced without nitrite but in order to be safe they must: (a) contain 10% salt; or (b) be acidified or pickled to a pH of less than 4.6; or (c) be dried to an A_w of 0.92 or less with a temperature during drying of <4.4° C (40° F) or >60° C (140°F); or (d) be heated to an equivalent of 121° C (250 ...