Читать книгу Foods and Their Adulteration - Harvey Washington Wiley - Страница 44

—A very effective method of preserving meat is practiced in certain of the arid regions of the country by exposing it to the dry air and sunlight. Meats prepared in this way are often called “jerked” meats. The small amount of aqueous vapor in the air is not sufficient to maintain the life of the ordinary fermentative germs, and they are, therefore, destroyed by desiccation. Meat which is exposed under such circumstances does not become infected with any fermentative germ, and the moisture which it contains is rapidly given off in the dry air surrounding it. For this purpose the meat is cut into thin strips and suspended by appropriate means in the air and exposed to the direct sunlight. In a short time the moisture disappears, and the hard dry pieces keep indefinitely in certain arid regions of this country. The meat also maintains a fair degree of palatability and practically all of its nutrient properties, so that when properly cooked it is a palatable and nutritious dish. Probably of all the methods of preserving meat this one is the least open to objection, since not even spices or condimental substances are necessary in order to preserve the meat from decay. By reason of the change in its physical appearance, however, which makes it less attractive, this method is not likely to come into general use in the ordinary preservation of meat.

Dried beef is also prepared by preserving the meat by condimental substances and, instead of placing it in brine, drying it artificially. Chipped or dried beef is a common article of commerce and is prepared in the manner described above. This meat, however, has already been treated with condimental substances, and hence the drying is only one of the means of preservation. Dried or chipped meats are often smoked also as well as desiccated, so that in their preparation more than one method of preservation is employed.