Sure Cure and Encapsulated Citric Acid Use

[North]

Good morning all, I am going to be smoking some summer sausage and some snack sticks and had a question regarding the Sure Cure and Encapsulated Citric Acid.

1. Should you use both?
2. If you don’t use Encapsulated Citric Acid you have to let it rest for 24 hours?
3. If I use Encapsulated Citric Acid do I have to smoke the meat right away or can I wait the 24 hours?

Thank you for your help!

[AdamCA]

North If you are making a snack stick or summer sausage you definitely want to use the Cure that comes with the seasoning. If you decide to use encapsulated citric acid (ECA) you still NEED to use the Sure Cure. If you don’t use the ECA then yes, hold at least 12 hours before smoking, and make sure you stuff your casings after you are done mixing. Don’t wait until the next day or it is going to be extremely hard to stuff casings. If you use the ECA I wouldn’t recommend holding it any longer than it takes you to stuff your casings, maybe an hour or two at the most.

[Jonathon]

North Just responding to let you know what AdamCA said is 100% what I would have said.

[North]

Thank you all for your time in responding thats what I thought but I wanted to make sure before I ruined something…

[Chris Gill]

Thanks I was wondering about how long I would have (a few hours) to get sticks to the smoker after using ECA. We are operating out of two different locations, stuffing and smoking, so this was very helpful!

[glen]

ECA melts and activates around 135F, you should be fine for a few hours