Would someone please explain to me how the salinity of a brine or cure increases with time?
For years it has been my understanding that when curing a product wet or dry that the idea was to get 100% saturation of the cure with a known % salinity and pH.
I continually monitor on this forum statements such as, "If you leave it in the brine or cure over a X amount of time, it gets too salty". It's been my opinion that the recommended curing times in trustworthy recipes should reflect the minimum time for complete saturation. Further time in the cure wet or dry should not make any difference in the % salinity.
It's been my experience that curing products such as bacon or fish beyond the recommended time needed to get 100% saturation has had absolutely no discernible differences in the finished product. It would seem that if a product continues to get salty, it has not reached 100% saturation and if becomes too salty for taste, maybe the recipe and time should be explored further.
Update:
We know that sugar counteracts the harshness of salt. As salt enters meat at a faster rate than sugar, time must be given to allow the sugar to equalize with the salt within the bacon or the bacon will taste salty.
Related threads: Salt vs Sugar Absobtion Rate?, Bacon curing time using Tender Quick,
Tom
For years it has been my understanding that when curing a product wet or dry that the idea was to get 100% saturation of the cure with a known % salinity and pH.
I continually monitor on this forum statements such as, "If you leave it in the brine or cure over a X amount of time, it gets too salty". It's been my opinion that the recommended curing times in trustworthy recipes should reflect the minimum time for complete saturation. Further time in the cure wet or dry should not make any difference in the % salinity.
It's been my experience that curing products such as bacon or fish beyond the recommended time needed to get 100% saturation has had absolutely no discernible differences in the finished product. It would seem that if a product continues to get salty, it has not reached 100% saturation and if becomes too salty for taste, maybe the recipe and time should be explored further.
Update:
We know that sugar counteracts the harshness of salt. As salt enters meat at a faster rate than sugar, time must be given to allow the sugar to equalize with the salt within the bacon or the bacon will taste salty.
Related threads: Salt vs Sugar Absobtion Rate?, Bacon curing time using Tender Quick,
Tom
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