By now you've probably seen that some manufacturers are using a "more natural" approach to curing meats. Instead of using synthetic sodium Nitrates/Nitrites they're using celery juice or celery juice powder. These products are often labeled as,
"No Nitrates or Nitrites Added."Worth reading: "The 'no-nitrites-added' hoax" by Michael Ruhlman. Disclaimer - The USDA currently does NOT recognize celery-based nitrates as an effective means of curing meats. So if you decide to try this at home, PLEASE be smart about safe food handling procedures!Because this is such a tightly held trade practice, it took me almost a year of research to find all the available data!
So, how does this work? Well, celery contains high amounts of Nitrate which can break down into nitrite which has meat curing properties.
Why do we even need Nitrites to cure meat? They allow meats to retain a pink color and develop the deep flavor flavor that we associate with cured meats. And, more importantly, it can kill the bacteria responsible for Botulism.
Celery juice, in addition to nitrates, also has a very mild flavor and pale color that won't adversly affect the flavor or color of the meat product.
How much celery juice is needed? Ahhh, That's where things get unclear, because NOBODY seems to want to share this info, so here's what I learned.
Nitrate levels in celery can vary, so without testing you simply do NOT know for sure. But, based on research done in 2006, "...commercially available Celery juice contained 2,114 ppm (parts per million) of nitrate." (Sebranek & Bacus, Meat Science | Vol 77 (2007) Pgs 141)
USDA regulations state that nitrite levels between 120 - to a maximum 156 ppm are to be used.
Based on those numbers, I calculated that 1 liquid oz. of celery juice per pound of meat should yield approximately 129 ppm nitrate.
Allright, we've got our info. Now.... On with the experiment!
Mini Smoked Italian SausagesThese were for a Church brunch the following day.
Here's 5 oz of freshly extruded celery juice and the seasonings for five pounds of Italian sausage.
I let the sausages hang at room temperature for an hour or so to allow the nitrate to break down into meat curing nitrite and allow the casings to dry a little. I then applied a 30 minute cold smoke
Note: As a control test, four sausages were cooked in my oven to ensure that the pink color was from the nitrates in the celery juice, and not a smoke ring reaction.
Here are the sausages, ready to be hot-smoked.
Done! Pulled off when they reached an I.T. of 152 -154°, then immersed in an ice water bath to chill as quickly as possible.
Dried off & cut into the mini links.
The next morning we threw them into a crock pot set on high & fully cooked them before being served.
The results were a nice uniform color all the way through, proving that they are indeed CURED!
Final Thoughts:If the idea of a "more natural" form of nitrate appeals to you then feel free to use this info as a guide. HOWEVER, be aware that without testing you simply do NOT know for sure how much Nitrate is present in the celery juice. Powdered Celery Juice has the exact same issues. Until more conclusive testing is done, I think I would:
1) Only trust celery-cured sausage products if hot-smoked in a timely manner and fully cooked to a minimum temp of 165°, which is what the USDA recommends anyway.
or...
2) Just stick with Cure #1, so you know exactly how much nitrite you're getting!
More info:http://www.meatscience.org/page.aspx?id=403http://www.vet.unipi.it/system/files/Cured%20meat%20products%20without%20direct%20addition%20of%20nitrate%20or%20nitrite.pdf