Curing is only necessary if the meat is going to be cooked between 40 and 140 degrees F for more than 2 hours. If you are making fresh sausage, you do not need to cure the meat. However, if you are going to be smoking the meat you will need to cure it in order to prevent botulism.
The compounds used in curing are salt, sugar, sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate. Salt and sugar can both cure meat by osmosis. Sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate are the basis for two commercially used products, namely Prague powders #1 and #2. They have many names depending on the vendor that you purchase if from, Instacure, Eldons Cure, Modern Cure, Pink Salt etc. but, it is all just Prague Powder. https://www.spokanespice.com/itemdetail.php?id=133&secid=69
While smokehouses aren’t as prevalent in the United States as they used to be, smoking remains a popular way to flavor and preserve food. Humans have smoked meat since prehistoric times, discovering that exposure to a smoldering fire dried and flavored animal flesh. Centuries before refrigeration and the canning process were developed; people salted and smoked fish and meat to prevent spoilage, to repel insects, and to preserve food for winter and lean times. Smokehouses were most common in the period from early settlement to 1930, when they declined because of electrification and refrigeration. The old smokehouses fell into disuse when refrigerated trucks began to deliver to walk-in coolers at the supermarket, and people took their purchased meats home to freezers. Cold smoking is a long, slow process that can last weeks with temperatures never exceeding 85 degrees. Small amounts of smoke flow around the meat or cheese, gradually permeating the tissues to give a mellow and delicate flavor. https://www.spokanespice.com/categorylist.php?secid=34
Most sources agree that hot sauce is an ancient invention that goes back as far as Mayan times. The first hot sauces were likely just a mixture of peppers and water, but it didn't take long for people to begin breeding pepper plants to develop the most desirable traits in their peppers. Then, as with most foods, colonization led hot sauce to be evolved even further by introducing ingredients from other parts of the world, such as vinegar and other spices. It didn’t take long for spicy flavors to reach all corners of the globe after that. Humans have enjoyed hot sauce since ancient times and, as with so many foods, it can serve as an international language to bring different people together and find common ground. So, whether you’re seeking to challenge yourself to taste the spiciest hot sauce on the planet, or you are simply interested in exploring the nuanced flavors of artisanal sauces, there’s certainly a hot sauce out there for you to enjoy. https://www.spokanespice.com/categorylist.php?secid=128
Bread, in all its various forms, is the most widely consumed food in the world. Not only is it an important source of carbohydrates, it’s also portable and compact, which helps to explain why it has been an integral part of our diet for thousands of years. Prehistoric man had already been making gruel from water and grains, so it was a small jump to starting cooking this mixture into a solid by frying it on stones. The first leavened bread was likely the result of some passing yeast making a home in a bowl of gruel. The yeast began eating the sugars present in grain and excreting CO2, producing bubbles that resulted in lighter, airier bread.
The Washington Cutlery Company was incorporated in 1906 and manufactured the "Village Blacksmith" brand of butcher knives, tools, corn knives, sickles, cold chisels, screw drivers, punches and primarily butcher’s meat cleavers. They sold their products principally in the United States. By 1921 the production reached some 700,000 pieces annually. Prior to the 1940s the Village Blacksmith name was incised or stamped directly into the blades of their cleavers. The Washington Cutlery Company closed in 1960 but, these vintage cleavers were made from carbon steel and are readily sought after by quality butchers even today.
The history of wood butcher blocks is not defined. Some say the use of a butcher block first originated in China. Others say that wood has been used in the preparation of food since the prehistoric ages. Hard wood butcher blocks were the preferred choice of the butcher industry. They were made to be extremely thick and durable, so durable in fact, that a butcher could use the same block for almost his entire career. One fact remains true, butcher blocks have been used in butcher shops for centuries, and still are in many European countries today, as well as in homes for the use of food preparation. It was 1887 in Effingham, Illinois when Conrad Boos developed his first butcher block. Local businesses took note and soon Conrad’s son John saw opportunity knocking and was fast building similar “block tables” for the local butcher, and others. John Boos & Co. was born.
The Enterprise Manufacturing Co. was founded in Philadelphia in 1864. The company made cast-iron equipment for chopping, grinding, slicing, and stuffing meats and other food. It also made sad irons for several years. The #35 unit is a combination sausage stuffer and lard and fruit press used to press sausage into casings, lard from cracklings, and juice from fruit and vegetables. In 1955 Enterprise sold out to another company who continued making sausage stuffers using the same blueprints but under the brand name chop-rite. The parts are interchangeable and are still available. https://www.spokanespice.com/itemdetail.php?id=354&secid=29
The definition of wildflower explains why you can’t pin down the defining qualities of wild flower honey. It is also known as polyfloral honey and is derived from the nectar of numerous species of flowers or blossoms. The taste, aroma and flavor will vary from season to season, depending on which flowers are dominant at the time the nectar is collected. There’s no specific genus or family for wildflowers; they’re any flower that grows on its own in the wild – so there’s no predicting exactly what wildflower honey will look or taste like. The nectar collected by bees, when they’re pollinating wildflowers, almost always comes from a number of different species. One final reason why the color and flavor of wildflower honey varies so much is that different plants flower at different times of the year. So the nectar collected by honey bees in May is likely to come from completely different wildflowers than the nectar the bees gather in September.
Mincemeat was originally a medieval food made of a sweet, spicy mixture of chopped lean meat, (usually beef, or beef tongue), suet and fruit. Over time, the meat content was reduced, and today the mixture contains nuts, dried fruit, beef suet, spices and brandy or rum, but usually no beef. We found that if you just drink the brandy/rum and throw the rest away, it makes excellent fare!
Sausage binders are used to improve the bind of meat and fat when making sausage, improving fat and moisture retention. They are a necessary evil when you make beef sausage. If you cut into a beef sausage link without a binder, the meat will just fall out. For beef sausage, many are using non-fat dehydrated milk or bull flour for the binder. Bull flour is a blend of finely ground grains, typically some combo of corn, wheat, rye, oats and/or rice. A good meat bind will help with increased juiciness from retained water, provide a better mouth feel, give your product a better appearance.
The white potato originated in the Andes mountains and was probably brought to Britain by Sir Francis Drake about 1586.
Before Columbus, Europe had never tasted cord, potatoes, tomatoes, red peppers, sweet potatoes, tapioca, chocolate, pumpkins, squash, coconuts, pineapples, strawberries, and much more. Why? All these food items are native to America.
Thought to have been derived from a Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) custom, Americans in the South annually gobble black-eyed peas. Most Southerners (and many historians) maintain the tradition began to take hold stateside when the first Shepari Jews moved to Georgia in the 1730s. By the end of the Civil War, the Rosh Hashanah tradition had evolved into a widespread practice in the South, enjoyed by both Jews and gentiles.
Parsley is probably the most well-known and used herb in the United States, used extensively in garnishing foods as well as for flavoring of sauces, soups, stews and stock. The name 'parsley' comes from the Greek word petros, meaning 'stone,' because the plant was often found growing among rocks. In ancient times, wreaths were made with parsley and were worn to prevent intoxication. Parsley was brought to the New World by the colonists