Yellow discoloration on bacon

[mul-t]

Just pulled out a 5lb belly from a 2 week cure. Used this calculator http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html to do the percentages. I tested a few pieces and it's cured through - however, there's a bunch of translucent yellow spot areas on the flesh. Kind of like the color of gelled chicken fat. Nothing on the fat itself. I managed to trim it off; it didn't run deep. Is this something to be concerned about? I couldn't find any info on this.

 

[indaswamp]

What sweetener did you use in the cure?

 

[GaryHibbert]

Sorry but I've never seen that before.
Gary

 

[indaswamp]

And did you monitor the refrigerator temp. with a digital thermometer to ensure the meat cured between 35~40*?

 

[mul-t]

Update: The peppercorns caused the discoloration. To test my theory I added a handful to a cup of water -they leeched a yellowish brown color immediately. Considering there were no other bad signs (smell or texture), I'm pretty confident that they're the cause.

>What sweetener did you use in the cure?

White sugar

>And did you monitor the refrigerator temp. with a digital thermometer to ensure the meat cured between 35~40*?

My fridge is pretty new and has a digital thermometer. I've cured in it before no problem.