This sped up curing from 21 days to curing in a few hours.
The next few years saw this knowledge being harnessed by industry and advanced upon by science as they worked out that it is indeed the nitrite doing the curing work (through NO) and developed methods of accessing nitrite directly in curing brines. Polenski made a remarkable discovery when he discovered nitrite in the brine and the meat (4). Established in 1900, the Reichsgesundheitsrat supported the Imperial Health Office in its tasks. In 1879, the “Law concerning the marketing of food, luxury foods and commodities” was adopted, and the Imperial Health Office was tasked with the responsible for monitoring compliance with it. At first it was a division of the Reich Chancellery and from 1879, fell under the Ministry of the Interior.
The Imperial Health Office was established on 16 July 1876 in Berlin,focusing on the medical and veterinary industry.
He passed away in 1911 in Berlin, Germany. He was born in Ratzebuhr, Neustettin, Pommern, Germany on to Samuel G Polenski and Rosina Schultz. Ed (Eduard) Polenski (1849-1911) was a chemists at the Imperial Health Office in Berlin, Germany. This is why saltpeter is a great fertilizer.ĭr. Nitrogen comes into our world through plants that take it from the air and use it as food, thus making it part of the plant’s structure. In saltpeter it has a particular effect on blood, explaining the fact that it gives cured meat its pinkish/ reddish colour. The nitrogen in saltpeter and ammonia makes it very reactive, giving it an explosive power. The two substances that contains nitrogen most familiar to us are saltpeter and ammonia. The power of saltpeter is the fact that it contains nitrogen. They use 10 pounds of this mixture per 100 pounds of meat. This gives bacon its characteristic pinkish/ redish colour, a nice flavour, and it lasts a long time before it tastes “off”.Ī typical curing mix that was used during the late 1800 to the middle of the 1900’s for dry cured bacon was a mix of 10 pounds salt, 3 pounds of brown sugar, 6 ounces of black pepper and 3 ounces of saltpeter. “Bacon is made when cuts from the pig is preserved by salt and saltpeter.” (Smith, 1876: 64). Moreover, there is a convenience in the use of it, which does not exist with regard to beef and mutton, for in such localities the pork is always pickled and kept ready for use without the trouble of going to the butcher, or when money could not be spared for the purchase of meat.” Pigs proved to be an equally prized meat in the new world due to the “ ease with which pigs are bred and reared, and the meat preserved, whilst there is great difficulty in obtaining a sufficient number of persons, in a thinly populated country or a small village, to eat a sheep or ox whilst meat is fresh. (Smith, 1876: 59) He lists the main ways that this is bring done as “ by drying, by cold, by immersion in antiseptic gases and liquids, by coating with fat or gelatin, by heat, salted meat and by pressure.” (Smith, 1876: 22 – 38) All have their benefits and disadvantages and interestingly enough, they are still all being used to this day and unique products have developed around each of these.Įdward Smith says that pork is particularly prized over beef and mutton because of the “ taste, but chiefly perhaps to the universal habit among the peasantry of feeding pigs, which has descended from Saxon times.
This is the story.Įdward Smith says in his book that “ the art of preserving meat for future use, with a view to increase the supply and lessen the cost of this necessary food (meat), is of very great importance to and all the available resources of science are now engaged in it.” (Smith, 1876: 22) I wondered what it was and who was the first to link saltpeter to nitrite formation in curing brine and meat and ultimately the creation of nitric oxide which cures meat. Many years ago people used saltpeter to cure meat. Ed PolenskiĪlso, see Bacon & the Art of Living, Chapter 08.05 The Polenski Letter The Noord Nieuwland in Table Bay 1762 Saltpeter: A Concise History and the Discovery of Dr.
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