Jerky

[Bob]

NB: This is from another thread. I moved it here because it applies to making ground meat jerky.

Bob wrote

I am still looking for the chemical agent that makes the jerky a bit chewier and rubbery. Here's some possibilities:

monosodium glutamate
carboxymethyl cellulose
tricalcium phosphate

Any ideas what it might be?

For now out of the three above it would be the carboxymethyl cellulose (a common bulking agent) though I would have to know all the ingredients present to be dead sure.
monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a flavour enhancer and
tricalcium phosphate is typically an anti-caking agent, buffering agent

I found a writup on the Whole Foods website:

http://www.wholefoods.com/healthinfo/carboxymethyl.html

+++
Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) is a modified cellulose gum (cellulose is also known as plant fiber). In foods, it is used as a stabilizer, thickener, film former, suspending agent and extender. Applications include ice cream, dressings, pies, sauces, and puddings. It is available in various viscosities depending on the function it is to serve. The allowable percentage range is 0.05 % to 0.5% of the total product. In supplements, it functions as a binder and/or helps tablets disintegrate during digestion. FDA lists CMC as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) when used in accordance with good manufacturing practices.

Synonyms and Brand Names (selected):
Crosscarmellose sodium; Ac-di-sol; Aquaplast; Carmethose; cellulose gum; sodium carboxymethylcellulose; cellulose glycolic acid, sodium salt; Daice; Fine Gum HES; Lovosa; NACM, Cellulose salt.
+++

There are several Whole Foods stores in Houston, so I will be calling around tomorrow.

[Bob]

I ran across this when I was researching carboxymethylcellulose - aka "cellulose gum" when it is in food grade form. Indeed it must be the agent that makes jerky have a rubbery texture.



According to the website http://www.longlifefood.com/jerky.html this is a "meal ready to eat" (MRE) with the following nutritional information:

Ingredients:
Beef, water, salt, flavorings, hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, mono-sodium glutamate, natural smoke and grill flavor, sugar, dextrose, yeast extract, caramel color, carboxymethyl cellulose, sodium nitrite, malic acid.

Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size 23g
Calories 80
Calories from Fat 25
Total Fat 3g
Saturated Fat 1.5g
Cholesterol 30mg
Sodium 610 mg
Total Carbohydrate 2g
Sugars 2g
Protein 7g

Total protein + carbohydrate + fat = 12 g. I wonder what the other 11 g are. Maybe I don't really want to know.

Now get this: That piece you see costs $1.50 and it weighs less than 1 oz. However you can get it for $1.28 per piece in quantity. Helluva deal, eh.

I'll bet this company makes most of its money supplying the military - the same bunch that pays $2500 for a toilet seat.

Clearly I'm in the wrong business.
(Actually I am not in any business right now since I am supposedly retired.)

[Parson Snows]

Bob/others

if you are looking for this it is also known as

E 466 in the UK/EU
Sodium Salt
Carmellose and
CMC (abbreviated full name)

kind regards

Parson Snows

[Bob]

if you are looking for this it is also known as
E 466 in the UK/EU
Sodium Salt
Carmellose and
CMC (abbreviated full name)

I found at least 2 manufacturers with offices in the US who make CMC. One is Aqualon Hercules and the other is Atko Nobel. It turns out that CMC is also used as an additive for drilling mud, and as you know Houston is the World Center of Excellence in Oil and Gas Technology, so chasing down those suppliers was easy since I live in Houston.

Each company sent me 3 lb of CMC, 1 lb each in 3 different size particles. The only thing that particle size influences is the kind of mixing, which is irrelevant for me since I am not in an industrial setting where I have to mix 100 bags of the stuff at a time.

One company furnished detailed specs on applications and it works out that for sausage the recommended use is 0.15%. That means I should have enough to make 4,000 lb. of jerky meat (that's the weight before dehydration. After dehydation the jerky weighs about 50% of the starting weight).

CMC costs $10 per lb. in 50 lb. bags. If a retail merchant bought a bag and repackaged it for small-quantity sale, say 1 oz. packs, it would cost about $4 per oz. to cover freight, packaging, handling and markup. That would be enough for about 40 lb of meat, which seems reasonable at $0.10 per lb. extra cost.