Sodium Erythorbate Dry Rub Test

[DougE]

Afternoon @daveomak ,
I always appreciate your posts, in fact welcome them.

I have done the testing on different forms of vitamin C, see the post above, when I noticed that Waltons and Backwoods seasoning both had NaE in their bacon dry rub cure with nitrite added this got my squirrel cage moving thinking about possibilities. Granted my testing is small with dry rub nitrite cure mix plus NaE but the evidence is pretty easy to see. Ascorbic acid is a completely different animal in terms of reaction with nitrite as I have noted.

I always wondered why some recommended the addition of NaE to brines as cover pickle, I figured that was counter productive, but apparently it’s not and will work just fine. The meats I have put into cure are all curing perfectly with the NaE addition. When NaE is dissolved in water and cure #1 is added, no discernible reaction happens even after 10 minutes. Citrus juice or wine are much more reactive.

Did you go just on a rack or bagged in your dry cure experiment using erythorbate?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Did you go just on a rack or bagged in your dry cure experiment using erythorbate?

All bagged.

 

[DougE]

All bagged.

Be an interesting experiment to see how this accelerated cure method would act outside containment. I am positing that the bag retains the gases, allowing them to act on the meat and if done open on a rack, the nitrite would gas out without having the same effect.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Be an interesting experiment to see how this accelerated cure method would act outside containment. I am positing that the bag retains the gases, allowing them to act on the meat and if done open on a rack, the nitrite would gas out without having the same effect.

Won’t make a difference. Studies have been done testing meat with just nitric oxide gas in a tent or bag, works on the surface but does not penetrate the meat. Salt needs to be present for osmosis , salt is still the carrier, but the NaE seems to speed that process, I’m not sure as of now exactly how, but it does speed the process. This is fun to look at and look into.

 

[DougE]

This is why I dig going deep. It gives us a better understanding of how the process works!

 

[SmokinEdge]

This is why I dig going deep. It gives us a better understanding of how the process works!

Well, we know that at least 2 big bulk suppliers, that being Waltons and Backwoods seasonings have bacon dry rubs with NaE included with nitrite in the cure mix. So obviously this is stable. The NaE does not just magically react with nitrite in dry form. Once applied to meat, there will be moisture. It is here that the reaction can occur. Still the reaction is not instantaneous, rather it’s more controlled, this has been my experience thus far.