Editing Salting (food) (section)

==History==

===Pre-modern===

Salting could be combined with smoking to produce [[bacon]] in peasant homes. Instructions for preserving (salting) freshly killed venison in the 14th century involved covering the animal with [[bracken]] as soon as possible and carrying it to a place where it could be butchered, boiled in brine, and dry salted for long term preservation in a [[barrel]]. People in the 14th century could also put salt on vegetables for taste.<ref name=salting>{{cite book |last=Woolgar |first=C.M. |publisher=Yale University Press |title=The Culture of Food in England, 1200-1500 |date=2016  |isbn=9780300181913 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zeKoCwAAQBAJ&q=salting}}</ref>

Salted meat was a staple of the mariner's diet in the [[Age of Sail]]. It was stored in barrels, and often had to last for months at sea. The basic [[Royal Navy]] diet consisted of salted beef, [[Salt pork|salted pork]], [[ship's biscuit]], and [[oatmeal]], supplemented with smaller quantities of peas, cheese and butter.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hmsrichmond.org/diet.htm |title=Diet and Recipes |publisher=hmsrichmond.org |date=2004-09-02 |access-date=2018-05-02}}</ref>  Even in 1938, [[Eric Newby]] found the diet on the [[tall ship]] ''[[Moshulu]]'' to consist almost entirely of salted meat.  ''Moshulu's'' lack of refrigeration left little choice as the ship made voyages which could exceed 100 days passage between ports.

===Modern===
[[Image:Prague powder No 1.jpg|thumb|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.]]
It was discovered in the 19th century that salt mixed with [[Sodium nitrate|nitrates]] (such as [[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.<ref name="uog"/>