salt and sugar.

[captain wassname]

Ive been curing bacon and ham for about 3 years now.When I first started both pump and rub and dry cure I was advised as a starting point to try 2% salt and 1% sugar which is what I still use (suits my taste)
I have tried sweet cures with honey treacle and maple sugar but always 2%salt and a higher sugar level.If a newcomer asks then I repeat what I was told adding if you want a saltier product add more salt or reduce the sugar.
All seems logical but does anyone know why.
What is the difference between a cure containing 2% salt and 1% sugar and a cure containing 3%salt and 2% sugar or a cure with 1% salt and no sugar
I could always experiment but maybe someone could save me the trouble.

Jim

[Ruralidle]

Hi cap'n

I can't give you a comprehensive answer but I have used Wheels' bacon curing formula for a while and that originally called for 18.5g salt per kg. He then amended the formula to call for 22g per kg. My family didn't like the bacon as much because it tasted too salty (we don't use much salt in or on our food) so our latest batch was made using the lower salt level.
On that basis, if 2% suits your taste, 3% is likely to taste too salty for you.

[captain wassname]

Thanks What I was pondering on was the relationship of salt and sugar.
I was wondering if i could cure with 1% salt and no sugar.Would this be the same as 2% salt and 1% sugar.

Jim

[Ruralidle]

Jim

I will have to hope that someone else has the experience to give you a definitive answer to your question. As you are clearly aware, the balance between salt and sugar in a cure mix is intrinsic to the taste of cured meat and I suspect that reducing the salt and leaving out the sugar would not be a particularly good idea. My logic for this is that every recipe for a bacon or ham cure that I have seen includes both (but I guess that there are some that don't include sugar).

Sorry I can't be of more help. Perhaps one of the other more experienced contributors, like Wheels, could help.

Richard

[wheels]

...What is the difference between a cure containing 2% salt and 1% sugar and a cure containing 3%salt and 2% sugar or a cure with 1% salt and no sugar...
Jim

Jim, I don't know would be the simple answer, but I don't think that it is as simple as saying that a certain percent of sugar negates a certain percent of salt.

There are the practical aspects - 1% salt will only be 10g on 100g of meat, so getting an even coverage will be a problem.

Have a look at some of the commercial bacon that's around (Ocado home shopping site is good for this). You'll note that many no sugar recipes have around 3% salt (salt = 2.5 times sodium), whereas the "Sweet Cured Smoked Streaky Bacon with Maple Syrup Waitrose 250g" has:

Pork (90%), Maple Syrup (6%), Sweet Dry Cure (4%).
Sweet Dry Cure contains Sugar, Salt, Preservatives Sodium Nitrite and Potassium Nitrate, Antioxidant Sodium Ascorbate

Nutrition
Typical values per 100g
Energy 1128kj
Energy 271kcal
Protein 17.6g
Carbohydrate 6.3g
of which sugars 3.5g
Fat 19.5g
of which saturates 7.9g
Fibre 0.5g
Sodium 0.9g

If we say that maple syrup is 60% sugar then that's 3.6% sugar in the bacon plus the sugar in the cure which we know is more than the 2.25% salt - so a minimum of 5.85% sugar to 2.25% salt. But, I bet you can still taste some salt when you eat it.

I'm having difficulty expressing my thoughts in writing but I hope that you 'get my drift' from the above.

Phil

[captain wassname]

I knew Id seen something about no sugar in ham on here.Took me ages to find it
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopi ... 3c8367031a

so 2% salt and no sugar wont be inedible.

Many thanks.
Jim

[wheels]

It should be fine Jim.

Phil