I would like to make a shelf stable Meat Snack Stick! I am assuming that I would use cure #2 instead of the Cure#1 that came with the seasoning mix! Then look to have at least a 30% weight loss after smoking and drying to get to stability without refrigeration! Am I on the correct track?

Interesting! How do people make shelf stable sausage without these expensive devices, using only an inexpensive PH meter and weight loss, or beef Jerky that does not use a culture or acid just water loss and in my case a cure as well? It is done all of the time with sausage and whole muscle dry curing. I have a dry cured ham from Spain that is sitting on the counter and has been for the better part of a year as per the instructions for consuming it. It was dry cured using only salt and slow dehydration, no Curing salt at all or addition of a culture. There seams to be something missing in the snack stick shelf stable curing process, as other meat products are able to be made shelf stable easily and safely.

I have been looking for packaging materials for Bacon! I am tired of cutting up butcher paper to fit in the vac bags, not getting it just the right size and having it to short to long fiddling with it and wasting time! Is there a resource for packing supplies for things like bacon out there that the public can buy from?

What happened to the Raffle?