Can you use rock salt to preserve meat?

I looked around google and I end up with making ice cream ideas or the kosher salt at the store, so I'm asking, can I use the rock salt that I melt the ice with on my porch to keep meat preserved? Thought it might be a good barter item since it stores easily and it's pretty cheap.

reply to post by korath


Salt is salt.........I wouldn't see why not.

Peace

reply to post by korath


I don't know for sure but I'd say yes. The salt should preserve and cure the meat but I'm thinking that it might be much... could make it hard. Let me know how it turned out if you try it.

Yeah, just grind it down to be finer. Depending on the grittiness and the size of the salt you might not get all that meat nice and packed with the salt to preserve

reply to post by korath
I would not be afraid to use rock salt.

It does tend to have a lot of dirt in it though. If you want to remove the dirt, mix up a strong brine with the rock salt and water, then drop some pieces of cord into the brine (you may have to tie weights on the loose end) suspended from a stick at the top of your container. The brine will move up through the cord by capillary attraction and the water will evaporate from the brine, leaving clean salt crystals attached to the cord that you can break off and grind or crush as needed.

Rock salt is the remains of ancient oceans that have since evaporated, so you basically have old, dirty sea salt when you buy it.

reply to post by korath


Of course you can, folk preserved meat using salt previous to the invention of refrigerators. People had cold cellars, and Ice boxes, but even those were not always available. It was common to salt cure meat. However, it will be very very salty tasting. LOL.

Please note. If you want to use rock salt you will need to grind it down. For salt curing to be successful, it needs to have as much physical contact with the meat as possible to cause the reactions neccissary to complete successful salt curing. Grind it down as fine as possible before proceeeding.

Question, why dont you just smoke/dehydrate/Jerk your meat. Salt curing is not tasty, and unhealthy.

remyrange

reply to post by korath


Not only yes, but I think it preferable for the end product.

reply to post by Cocasinpry

What do you think will happen when the dollar finally collapses? What say you?

In a survival situation, if you want to avoid hard meat when you cure it, try pickling it in brine. Make the brine by mixing enough salt with water until it will float just the top( size of a dime ) of a fresh egg. Then you may add spices or brown sugar if you like. Soak the meat, depending on the size, up to two weeks in the brine, you may need to place weights on the pieces of meat to keep them submerged.
A large ham (30-40 lbs) needs two weeks, a side of bacon only three days.

After pickling, pull the pieces of meat out of the brine and hang them to dry well, then smoke them. Best woods for smoking meat are cherry, apple, hickory and sassafras.

Rock salt can contain impurities that are not intended to be eaten. You can purify it, though, by dissolving it in water, straining it to remove the impurities, then evaporating the water.

Rock salt is sodium chloride mixed with insoluble impurities. In this experiment you will remove these impurities to produce pure sodium chloride.

Purification of Rock Salt

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I did not know this!

In addition to the four types of salt seen above, rock salt is very common. It's uses include melting ice on roads and sidewalks and making ice cream. It usually contains many impurities which can negatively affect the taste of foods.

Though, I've only ever cured something with a thick skin: pork and turkey legs. Never tried it with beef.

100% YES!!!!

Been doing it for years...

South African Biltong....

Google it

reply to post by remyrange


I have recently bought a dehydrator, I just figured if the SHTF and the powers gone (emp strike) having some bags of it stacked in the garage might be a good last resort, or as a barter item.

reply to post by loam


*snip*Mod Note: Please stay on Topic – Review This Link.

Can someone tell me the best way to use salt to preserve meat? Can someone also tell me the shelf life of salt preserved meat?

reply to post by Resurrectio


Maybe this will help.

PDF format Meat Curing

Someone mentioned curing beef. I have experience with beef and venison, at least brine curing them.

You can pickle a hind leg from a typical size whitetail in ten days. After it is finished soaking for that time, hang it to dry in cool place for several weeks.

Slice it thin, the deer make better chipped 'beef' gravy than a steer does.

reply to post by SeenMyShare


Great link.

Reply to post by korath

Saltis salt, yes. But it really dependson which type of rock salt you have. A lot of the rock salts you buy nowdays has magnesium or phosphates in them to keep the ice from refreezing. Be certain the rock salt you use has none or it can make you sick


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Nice thread, this is something i have wondered about for a while, but never brought up. Earlier smoking meat was mentioned, any advice on doing that, haven't tried it my self and would really like a few tips before trying it.

Thank you for the replies and the advice, guess I'll be picking some up soon.