Pink Cure
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The pink is just a dye to let you know it is not salt, it is still good as long as it is sealed. I’ve used some old stuff I found on the back shelf that had the same issue to cure corned beef and it worked just fine. That’s why they put them in colored bags instead of clear now most places.
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I have some sugar cure that’s over 12 years old and I still use it and it still works great considering the meat turns bright red and I haven’t died from botulism.
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The chemicals in cure #1 are just salt, sodium nitrite, and coloring. The first two are the active ingredients and don’t really deteriorate if kept dry.
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I just thought of something that we ran into with cure and the weight years ago. If cure is not kept vacuum sealed as to not let moisture in then it will absorb moisture from the air (hygroscopic) and become heavier by water content and not by nitrite/nitrate content due to the salt content. If this happens then it must be added by volume and not weight, such as Morton’s sugar cure takes 1tbsp per pound of meat instead of oz or grams, just something to keep in mind.
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I just thought of something that we ran into with cure and the weight years ago. If cure is not kept vacuum sealed as to not let moisture in then it will absorb moisture from the air (hygroscopic) and become heavier by water content and not by nitrite/nitrate content due to the salt content. If this happens then it must be added by volume and not weight, such as Morton’s sugar cure takes 1tbsp per pound of meat instead of oz or grams, just something to keep in mind.
I just thought of something that we ran into with cure and the weight years ago. If cure is not kept vacuum sealed as to not let moisture in then it will absorb moisture from the air (hygroscopic) and become heavier by water content and not by nitrite/nitrate content due to the salt content. If this happens then it must be added by volume and not weight, such as Morton’s sugar cure takes 1tbsp per pound of meat instead of oz or grams, just something to keep in mind.
If I had some cure #1 that I suspected had absorbed moisture, I would not hesitate to dry it in a warm oven for a couple of hours to drive off the moisture, and then use or seal in an air tight container.
Paul
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I just thought of something that we ran into with cure and the weight years ago. If cure is not kept vacuum sealed as to not let moisture in then it will absorb moisture from the air (hygroscopic) and become heavier by water content and not by nitrite/nitrate content due to the salt content. If this happens then it must be added by volume and not weight, such as Morton’s sugar cure takes 1tbsp per pound of meat instead of oz or grams, just something to keep in mind.
If I had some cure #1 that I suspected had absorbed moisture, I would not hesitate to dry it in a warm oven for a couple of hours to drive off the moisture, and then use or seal in an air tight container.
processhead That would probably work extremely well.
The situation I found myself in as this was happening was in the packaging of 20-40 5# bags of cure #1 on a Friday night and by Monday they had gained several ounces. The plant could have switched to plastic bags instead of paper, but once it was determined that it was just humidity the QC and R & D folks were happy. A few oz of water in a 2,500# batch apparently didn’t change the final product.
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processhead That would probably work extremely well.
The situation I found myself in as this was happening was in the packaging of 20-40 5# bags of cure #1 on a Friday night and by Monday they had gained several ounces. The plant could have switched to plastic bags instead of paper, but once it was determined that it was just humidity the QC and R & D folks were happy. A few oz of water in a 2,500# batch apparently didn’t change the final product.
processhead That would probably work extremely well.
The situation I found myself in as this was happening was in the packaging of 20-40 5# bags of cure #1 on a Friday night and by Monday they had gained several ounces. The plant could have switched to plastic bags instead of paper, but once it was determined that it was just humidity the QC and R & D folks were happy. A few oz of water in a 2,500# batch apparently didn’t change the final product.
Right. If the cure was in prepackaged, factory-weighed containers, then absorbed moisture would be no problem.
Only when trying to weigh out the cure in small quantities, like for small batches, would you run the risk of not adding enough cure.
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