Nitrate-cured Meats: Salami, Hot Dogs, Lunch Meats, Etc.

Mo Freschetti is Founder of the Zingerman Community of businesses in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have eaten at Zingerman’s Delicatessen and it is truly a delightful experience. You will find no better deli– even in New York City. Here is his article on nitrates added to salami and such.  Nitrates reduce to nitrites during curing and nitrites are cancer-causing. Mo explains you can cure meats with nitrates and yet be legally labeled “nitrate-free.” How? By using celery juice!  Definitely see Mo’s blog and go to the Zingerman deli and menu.

I spent a few minutes this week talking to Francois Vecchio, the man behind the crespone, finocchiana, cacciatore and felino salamis we carry. He gave me a chemistry lesson on salami making that I thought was worth sharing.

People are often worried about meat cured with nitrates. Is it a valid concern? I’ll get to that in a minute. First let me explain how nitrate cures meat. Welcome to a brief voyage through high school chemistry with apologies to mad scientists if I get any of the specifics incorrect.

Sodium nitrate NO3 is added to salami ingredients before they’re stuffed into the mostly air proof casing. Inside, the bacteria and microbial organisms live in an anaerobic environment—no oxygen.

Their activity sucks one of the three oxygen molecules away, turning sodium nitrate into sodium nitrite NO2. Sodium nitrite is unstable and aggressive to microbes. It’s the compound that does the real work of curing, making it safe for us to eat.

While it does its job another oxygen molecule is leeched off. What’s left is nitric oxide NO. This fixes the pigment color, keeping salami red. This molecule is safe.

Even though we started the cure with NO3 we ended up with NO. While Francois adds 150 parts per million of sodium nitrate to start the cure, only 2 or 3 PPM are left. The traditional thirty day curing process eliminates the substance.

So if cured salami doesn’t have any sodium nitrate or nitrite left, why are people afraid of it?

While traditionally cured meat doesn’t have any sodium nitrate/nitrite, non-traditionally cured meat may. During the middle of the last century, in between inventing Twinkies and Cheese Whiz, food scientists deciphered the chemistry that I just explained. Until then it’d been a two thousand year process that no one understood – people just knew it worked. The scientists correctly identified sodium nitrite NO2 as the money molecule. It did the majority of the curing work. NO3 didn’t seem to do much, so they experimented with adding NO2 directly to the meat, cutting NO3 out of the game. It worked. It saved time. Meat could be cured almost overnight. It could go to stores faster. It was a huge success.

Sort of. The problem is when the cure is rushed, NO2 doesn’t disappear like it does when you cure traditionally over thirty days. It’s still present in the meat. NO2 is a carcinogen.

That’s the reason people are worried about nitrate cured salami. Meats may be cured with sodium nitrite – not nitrate – and rushed to market when the nitrite carcinogen is still present. This isn’t true for the salamis we carry.

What about the “no nitrate” meat at supermarkets?

Nitrates are necessary for curing meat. You can’t cure without them and keep meat pink and safe. But if nitrates are necessary for curing meat, how can places like Whole Foods carry meats they say are nitrate free?

The trick is celery. It’s high in nitrates. Concentrated celery juice is used in the curing, instead of the naturally occurring mineral sodium nitrate. The FDA allows it to be called “Natural Flavor” instead of “Sodium Nitrate.”

Visit the Zingerman Community of Businesses, including the famous Deli.

Thanks to Anita Sorkin, Cincinnati WAPF and Cincinnati Real Food Connections and one of our Cincinnati correspondents, for sending this to the Journal.  

Eating Chocolates Without Guilt

Rolling out cacao beans

If you observe Halloween, you and your children may be munching on all that disgusting candy out of the plastic pumpkin or some other Chinese-made device. Now is the time to be thinking of those ingredient labels. You will find that it is not really food (or candy for that matter). It is basically an HFCS injection, coupled with a variety artificial flavors and colors. Worse yet, if it is “diet” candy with the factory-made artificial sweeteners, it will help you get fatter and hungrier, studies have concluded.Dr. Mercola, at Mercola.com, had put out a nice Halloween treat the other day that talks about the chocolate candy vs. real chocolate. Here is a couple excerpts:

Even many so-called “natural” chocolates may contain some of these unhealthy ingredients — avoid them at all costs…

• Trans fat — An artery-clogging type of fat that forms when vegetable oils are hardened into margarine or shortening. 

The Miracle of Vitamin D3

We know that most people are deficient in Vitamin D3. Vitamin D is vital to building immunity. This is one reason why cod liver oil, high in Vitamins D and A, is so good for immunity against colds, flus and other viruses. I have wanted to post a few of the best articles I have seen on this topic, but for now, this amazing 6-minute video called The Miracle of Vitamin D, will have to do. More to come.

See a thorough paper on the Miracle of Vitamin D at the Weston A. Price Foundation.

The Nourished Kitchen and the Food Renegade are Nominated for National Award for Sustainable Food

Jenny McGruther of The Nourished Kitchen

Two real food bloggers have been nominated for a prestiguous national award from FoodBuzz.com. Jenny McGruther of Crested Butte, Colorado and Kristen Michaelis of Leander, Texas. They are both Weston A. Price Foundation members and are featured contributors to the FoodBuzz.

Jenny and her husband created and manage the Crested Butte local farmers market and work closely with farmers and the community on developing farm to consumer marketing such as CSAs, community kitchens and gardens, dining co-operatives as well as programs for low-income residents like WIC to market and farmers market foodbanking. Her blog is simply beautiful. Her page designs and photography are quite artistic. Her tag line for The Nourished Kitchen is “Where Eating Gets Political”. Her style is exquisite that shows her passion for sustainable farming and real food. And, boy, does she have a huge library of recipes. You can see for yourself at the The Nourished Kitchen.

Connect to Wilderness Family Naturals’ Healing Substances

 As a publisher of an international food and health journal, I must take extreme diligence in recommending any product much less endorsing one. On this rare occasion, I am delighted to introduce you to this small family whole food ministry– Augie.

IMAGINE: Imported organic spices, herbs, teas, coconut oils, nuts, berries and such from small family farmers around the world delivered to your door. Now imagine being connected to the largest global database of their health benefits, application and ratings from users for specific diseases and disorders through the Journal.

 

EXCITING NEWS: Wilderness Family Naturals is offering readers of the Journal a 10% discount on top of the already low prices for the month of September only. 

Fischer Family at Bean Lake in Minnesota

Wilderness Family Naturals (WFN) is a small, family-owned, organic whole food ministry and importer for small family farmers throughout the world. Owners Ken and Annette Fischer and their seven children were victims of an FDA enforcement action in July 2009 that so far has cost them $100,000 and requires them to pay FDAs legal and travel expenses for the next 5 years. They were also required by FDA to terminate their contracts with 300 U.S. resellers/affiliates that sold much of their products. Read our story, updated today, September 4. Although their business is fine, more invoices from the FDA are coming. When I spoke to Ken yesterday and Annette in August, I told them I think “help is on its way.”

Honoring the Sacred Foods– 10th Annual WAPF Wise Traditions Conference

This just came across my desk and could not help but pass it on. Are ya going to Chicago? Comments?

Conference Announcement

Honoring the Sacred Foods– 10th Annual WAPF Wise Traditions Conference

Weston A. Price Foundation Annual Conference – November 13 – 16, 2009 – Schaumberg, IL

It’s all about the food…and the farmers.

How do we prepare over 7,000 delicious and nutritious meals for 1,200 people over four days? We rely on creative chefs, and hundreds of food donors: wise traditions farmers, producers and vendors!

Roasted Heirloom Tomato Soup

Just after I hauled in our first tomatoes and onions of the season from the garden, I caught this simple recipe for roasted heirloom tomato soup at HartkeisOnline.com. We had already harvested and dried our garlic a month ago, so we are all set to prepare this soup and store extra in the freezer. Sea salt, peppercorns and olive oil is all the other stuff you will need.

We are going vary the recipe by using some basil and rosemary. Another thing I want to try is creaming it with fresh, raw cream while it is steaming on the stove prior to serving.

See the recipe and discussion here.

The recipe is compliments of Andrea Milstein, the founder of Cooking With An ´Accent. Inspired by her years of living in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Andrea is an active member of The Weston A. Price Foundation. Visit her Cooking with an Accent website.

Keeping a Feast Each Week

Kimi over at www.thenourishingourmet.com shares her special meal of the week. If you check out her site, you will find what I did: this lady rocks!

I remember when I was a kid, mom always made a special Sunday dinner after church. My  parents learned the tradition from their parents. Grandma always made a Sunday dinner. It wasn’t too unusual she had two or three meats: fresh butchered chicken, beef and ham.

The Virtue of Soul Food

Kristin is the Food Renegade– an admitted rebel of the real food movement. Her articles are delicious. In Real Food is Soul Food, Kristen struck a major chord in me. She relates the virtues of local, farm-direct food to a spiritual connection. I heard a talk at our Brunswick Ohio event from a vegetable and blueberry farmer. He said when families come to the farm, the children pick blueberries as laying hens scamper around their feet. They touch and feel life and connect to its Creator.

Real Food is old and traditional. It’s sustainably grown, organic, and local. And it nourishes the soul as well as the body.

That’s because finding, cooking, and eating Real Food is a craft. I once heard that cooking was the only art form that uses all five senses. It engages the whole person, and as such rewards the whole person. Preparing Real Food isn’t just about good nutrition or ethics. It’s about becoming the people we are meant to be, becoming more fully human.

Why do I think Real Food is ennobling?

Firstly, because it helps us be producers rather than mere consumers. From the beginning, the story of Real Food is one of individual agency and competence. You save a seed, sprout it, plant it, nourish it, watch it grow, harvest it, prepare it, and then feed yourself and your loved ones a nutrient-dense meal. You can take pride in that. Even if you don’t grow your own food or care for the animals that feed you, you still experience the empowerment of finding that local source of raw milk or the best deal on eggs from pastured hens. You still experience the thrill of savoring perfectly ripe tomatoes, of eating cucumbers absent wax, of mastering traditional food preparation techniques. You can still know the joy of producing something tangible of value.

Raw vs. Cooked Foods: Which is Better?

A most interesting and challenging article called Raw versus Cooked Foods: Which is Better? came across my desktop. When Dr. Bruce Ames from UCLA was quoted, I took special notice as I have had much respect for his work.

I think every one knows eating raw fruits and vegetables is healthy and nutritious; but few may know why. (I always feel very much energized after eating a small plate of veggies with dip– as well as a banana, apple or orange.) Some even find properly prepared raw meat (such as beef liver, oysters or sushi) to be beneficial.

Personally, I would never become a raw foodie, as some swear by and avoid anything cooked–some religiously (“don’t touch that– cooked green beans have been on that plate”).  I would rather increase consumption of raw, and continue eating al dente many of the veggies.