You might toss a little over your left shoulder for well fortune , spatter some on your eggs or even tip a shaker into a frothy beer . However you apply it , one thing ’s for certain : Most of us takesaltfor granted .
Salt was n’t always such a simple matter . For centuries , it was a rare commodity used as defrayment , as an impulsion for war and , often , for survival . Salt preserved Pisces in ancient Egypt , seasoned Romanist salad dressing and even measured a soul ’s wholeness , hence the expression " worth his salinity . " It prevent integral civilisation alive thanks to its ability to prevent foods from turn into bacteria - laden killers .
To translate how salt prevent solid food from spoil , it ’s significant to first grasp how it ’s used topreserve foods . Salt is used in two primary ways to preserve foods , either in granule form or inbrine , which is a saltiness - and - water answer . A ham , for exemplar , might be cured with salt , and cuke are preserve ( and turned into fix ) with brine . Curing with salt granule , known asdry solidification , means applying salinity to the exterior of a cut of meat of meat and salt away it for several weeks . It ’s one of the most ancient way of cure meat . Modern curing can involve interpose meat with salt seawater .
Whatever the form of salt that ’s used , the mineral not only preserves food but also prevents bacterium from growing , including foodborne pathogens such as salmonella , which can cause food poisoning , typhoid fever and other serious problem .
Salt bottle up bacteria in a variety show of ways . It ’s a disrupter that make for mayhem in germ , interrupting their enzyme and break off away at their desoxyribonucleic acid . It most often works through dehydration , remove many of the water molecules that bacteria need to survive and grow . body of water molecules in nutrient are quantify in damage ofproduct body of water activity , a numeral that signifies the free water molecules present . Before salt saving , many sweet foods have 0.99 production piddle activity . The product body of water activeness is bring down when salt dehydrates the food through the process ofosmosis . In essence , the salt around the outside of the food draws water molecules out and supercede them with salt molecules until the amount of salt is equal inside and out . Lowering the water system product activity to 0.91 is sufficient to prevent most bacterial ontogenesis ; for some solid food , the number might be 0.94 [ source : Parish ] .
Salt Prevents Food Spoilage FAQ
Lots More Information
Related Articles
Sources
Please copy / paste the following textbook to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com clause :
