Salting (food)

A trough used for salting fish

Salt is being added to ham

Salting is a treatment for food to make it last longer. Salting means that the food is treated with table salt.

Salting is similar to pickling. In pickling, food is treated with brine. The main types of food that are salted are fish and meat. Bacon is an example of salted meat. It was discovered in the 19th century that salt mixed with nitrites (saltpeter) would color meats red, rather than grey, and consumers at that time then strongly preferred the red-colored meat. The food hence preserved stays healthy and fresh for days avoiding bacterial decay.

Salting is one of the ancient ways to preserve food.^[1]

Salting (food) Media

Bag of Prague powder #1, also known as "curing salt" or "pink salt." It is typically a combination of salt and sodium nitrite, with the pink color added to distinguish it from ordinary salt.
Various salted fish sold in a marketplace in a suburb of Jakarta, Indonesia

References

↑ Historical origins of food preservation. Archived 2011-10-15 at the Wayback Machine University of Georgia, National Center for Home Food Preservation. Accessed June 2011.

[uog-1] Historical origins of food preservation. Archived 2011-10-15 at the Wayback Machine University of Georgia, National Center for Home Food Preservation. Accessed June 2011.

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