When cooking, using the perfect curing salt can make a world of difference to your dish. Pink curing salt, also known as Prague powder, is one of the top salts for curing all kinds of meats, including beef, poultry and fish. In fact, pink curing salt is quickly becoming the number one go-to salt for safe and high quality meat curing. It comes with benefits both for your health and the curing process, making it a must have in the kitchen.
What is Pink Curing Salt?
Source: The Practical Pioneer
Not to be confused with Pink Himalayan Salt, pink curing salt is a mixture of sodium chloride and (table salt) and sodium nitrite. It is dyed pink so that it won’t be confused with table salt, it should not be used in excess. Though it is used to cure meat, it is not present in finished, cured meats in a high enough dosage to cause issues. This makes it entirely safe for the curing process.
How Pink Curing Salt Improves Your Food
Pink curing salt is ultimately used to cure meat, meaning that it makes it so that the botulinum toxin cannot produce. Once known as sausage disease or sausage poisoning, botulism was derived from “botulus,” the Latin word for sausage. In short, clostridium botulinum is a bacterium that is present in soil and water. The spores of the bacteria can become airborne and land on food where, under the right conditions, can reproduce. When it reproduces, it creates the toxins known as botulinums, which cause botulism, a foodborne illness that is rare but extremely severe.
Pink curing salt helps stop the bacteria in its tracks, preventing reproduction and the growth of the toxin. Nitrites prevent the growth of anaerobic bacteria. Nitrates turn into nitrites over time, making them a “time release” inhibitor of the harmful compound. Sodium nitrite can only be purchased when it has been mixed with and cut by salt.
When added to meat for curing, the nitrites in pink curing salt are converted to nitric oxide during the curing process, a compound that is not harmful. In short, home cooks do not have to worry about using pink curing salt, as the amount of nitrite in cured meats is not harmful or toxic at all.
Responsible Use of Pink Curing Salt
Again, it’s important to remember that pink curing salt by itself is 100% toxic to humans. It should never be used as regular table salt and should not be sprinkled on food for flavoring. Pink curing salt is just that—curing salt. The number one health benefit of this salt is that it removes toxins from meat, making sausages, roasts, steaks, poultry, and many others safe to eat.
Pick Up a Bag and Get Cooking
If you’re looking to cure your own meats using pink curing salt, or Prague powder, Anthony’s Goods carries a 2lb bag of Pink Curing Salt #1 that is verified gluten-free and batch tested for perfection. It is perfect for both curing and preserving sausage, white fish, all kinds of bacon, salami, and much more. In fact, the bag contains enough pink curing salt to cure hundreds of pounds of meat, making it an extremely economical and practical buy. You can pick up a bag for just $13.99 from Anthony’s Organic and Natural Flours, Meats, and Food, as well as receive discounts the more bags you buy!
