Cookbook:Salting

Cookbook | Ingredients | Cooking techniques

Salting is a method of preserving food, that was more common before modern refrigeration.

Salting preserves food by drawing water out of the food, preventing bacteria growing and spoiling the food.

There are two methods of salting food:

Dry Curing

The food is surrounded in salt and left in a cool dry place. As water will be drawn out into the salt it may be necessary to pour the accumulated liquid out.

Wet Curing

A brine is prepared by dissolving salt in water, the food is then placed in the brine and left in a cool dry place. It is possible to introduce new flavours to the food by adding spices to the brine, for example juniper berries or peppercorns.

Depending on how much salt is used the food could last for a few months to a few years, and the technique adds flavor as well, though some do not like the taste of salted foods. Salted food is very salty and may need to be reconstituted, to reintroduce water and remove some of the salt.

Some popular salted foods are Lox and the less salty (and thus less preserved) counterpart Nova Lox.