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Dan .....were you in my class at school that is certainly what I was taught, in France sometimes referred to as sel rouge, I use it to preserve veal tongue other wise I cannot face a plate of grey meat.

Regarding the postings on Saltpetre and colour, please note that Saltpetre does produce / preserve the nice pink colour. But the most important point is that Saltpetre is a strong bactericide. It kills germs and thus preserves the meat. The most dangeraous and important bacteria it kills is the Botulinum group. These bacteria are responsible for Botulism food poisoning - this is about as serious as food poisoning can get!


So Saltpetre is a small but very important ingredient in meat cure recipes for food safety, which is why its there.

Saltpeter is not banned and is still widely used in food production. Saltpeter is currently available from a few suppliers


Don't buy or use anything other than Food grade for curing meat !!!. Technical / Agricultural / Industrial grades (despite claims of high purity) contain unsafe levels of nitrites hich can form carcinogenic nitrosamines when cooked.

Thanks David - I just need to wait for my kitchen to be finished so that I have some room to do these things - cheesemaking being another of them

Hi Mrs Woof Woof

I started off without the saltpetre, but found the colour raised comments from eaters. It is only there to preserve the colour as it is the common salt which provides the cure. My view? Worth the effort.

Hope that helps.

David

I'm looking to start making my own bacon. Is salt petre really necessary? If it's just a "colour" thing then I'm not sure that that bothers me particularly. Any advice appreciated. Thank you.

David thanks I will try them. :

Robertn J

Hi Robert

I use 2 teaspoons of Saltpetre (potassium nitrate) mixed into 1kg coxxxx salt for curing belly pork for use as bacon. It is in the recipe to help keep the colour of the meat. I generally have no problem with approaching my local pharmacy, show them the recipe if necessary. It is such a small amount that it seems to be ok for them to sell. If you have a good butcher, he could let you have a small amount.

Good luck

David

Try a google for Sausage Making. A few of them supply it.

i think salt peter has been banned as it is used in making home made bombs