The Best Curing Salt for Jerkies to Preserve Meat

Meat lovers have a lot of options starting from sausages to bacon that they can enjoy every day alternatively. Guess the hardest part of being a meat fan? No, it’s not preparing meat but preserving it because it gets decayed soon. Even if you put it inside a refrigerator, you have to finish it within 3-4 days or maybe a week (when kept carefully). Running to the grocery store daily to buy jerky is not a practical solution. And you don’t need to do that if you have curing salt at home. A little amount of salt will keep the jerky and other meats fresh and safe by sucking out their moisture. Hence, it’s up to you whether you want to have them tonight or a month later when your guest visits. Without any further ado, let’s learn how you can find the best product. 

Why Should You Have Curing Salt for Jerky?

Here are the valid reasons that prove you should have curing salt for jerky at home.

• Salt draws out water from the cells of the food. As a result, harmful bacteria which are responsible for food decay, cannot survive in it. Hence, the meat remains preserved for quite a long time.
• Since this salt contains nitrites or nitrate, it preserves the red color of the meat.
• Nitrates and nitrates are also known for inhibiting bacterial growth so it reduces the chance of food poisoning.
• A small amount has highly concentrated content which means a small container full of salt will last for months and maybe years. 
• The Prague salt is not limited to jerky only because you can apply it to any meat of your choice.
• Last but not least, the meat cured with such salts doesn’t lose its flavor.

What Are the Types of Curing Salt?

Curing salt is available under different names in the market like Prague powder, tinted, quick cure, instant cure, and pink curing salt. Salt is of two types based on its contents. 

Prague powder #1

The type of powder is great for preserving meat for a short period of time. It contains 6.25% sodium nitrite while the rest is regular salt. You have to cook meat cured under such salt before eating. They go for a few weeks to a few months. You can apply it to bacon, ham, sausage, corned beef, and more. 

Prague powder #2

This salt contains 6.25% sodium nitrite, and 4.75% sodium nitrate along with regular salt. Sodium nitrate is what makes it different from powder #1. It works for curing meat for a longer period of time. You don’t cook such tinted meat after curing. The salt is applicable to salami, prosciutto, and more.

Which Is Better Between Curing Salt and Regular Salt?

Ordinary salt has too little preservative property as compared to tinted salt. Additionally, regular salt has iodine which transforms the taste of the meat. Therefore, treating the bacon or jerky with regular salt tastes too salty. Moreover, the salt pulls out oxygen from myoglobin when it is cooked. That’s why cooked meat turns gray whereas cured meat looks pink after cooking because the oxygen is replaced by nitrite. Apart from this, there are certain bacteria like Clostridium which don’t die in ordinary saline conditions alone so using tinted salt is best to kill them as it has both salts in the right proportion.

How Can You Find the Best Curing Salt for Jerky?

Evaluate these factors to make a wise purchase.

Amount

See the size of the product or the amount of salt it holds so that you never fall short or have an excess of it. If you wet-cure meats rarely, choose a smaller size that contains four-ounce powder. However, the same will be too less if you host a family where everyone is a diehard fan of cured meats. In this case, choose a larger one having 2-2.5 pounds of curing salt. 

Formula

Curing salt can be Prague powder #1 or Prague powder #2. Choose the first one for wet-curing meats which you wish to cook before eating. It has 6.25% sodium nitrite to keep your meat preserved by dehydrating it and killing germs.

Additional ingredients

Check the additional ingredients to suit individual needs. For instance, if you don’t want gluten in your meat, go for gluten-free salt. If you want extra flavor rather than a simple saline taste, check for spices and teas which add flavor to the cured flesh. 

Color

The salt you are choosing is already of pink color but there are some products that are so light pink that it appears more like white. Make sure to check the color so that you can distinguish it from the ordinary salt. It should be dyed pink.