# Question: Meat Preservation



## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Has anyone ever heard of preserving meats in Wood Ash?

I have been searching for information on this and have only found 1 sentence in an old book about the process:



Home and Farm Food Preservation
By William V. Cruess (1918)

Ham and bacon may also be kept by placing the
pieces on a layer of sifted ashes and covering with
a thick layer of the same.



I have a number of old turn of the century books and the above cite was all I could find and a web search has been unsuccessful. I did, however, run across a reference to mixing wood ash with salt and using that to pack meats in for preservation.

Any comments?


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Ham and bacon are already preserved, I'm not sure what the ash is for.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

They were referring to the pieces freshly cut off the hog at "Butchering Time".

Now a day, hams and bacons are cured but very few are preserved. Back at the turn of the last century, the book was covering preservation process and the reference was for using wood ash(instead of salt or sugar) to that end.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

I'd say the ash helped soak up the moisture in the meat an it would create a small amount a lye (ya know, wood ash an water makes lye) so that might help preserve it. I know they used ta store eggs in wood boxes covered in charcoal.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

OldCootHillbilly said:


> I'd say the ash helped soak up the moisture in the meat an it would create a small amount a lye (ya know, wood ash an water makes lye) so that might help preserve it. I know they used ta store eggs in wood boxes covered in charcoal.


That was kinda the line of thought I was taking, I know that the Scandinavians use lye to make "Lutefisk" and thought the alkalinity of the wood ash may work the same way with the hams and bacon, that along with it also being a drying agent.

If I cant find any more info on the subject, I'm going to start experimenting soon.

Thanks.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I've been going over all the old "Home Manuals" and "Cook Books" I can find for information on preserving meats in wood ash, haven't found much but I did find a reference to storing cured/smoked meats in wood ash to prevent pests from getting into them.

It stated to put a layer of ash on a curing table and covering it in ash to keep mice and bugs from pilfering it. 

It was found in one of the "Lippincott's Home Manuals" on "Successful Canning And Perserving" by Ola Powell... 1918


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Wish grandad were still alive Davarm, he'd a been able ta tell us. I thin it would help a cured smoked meat ta keep longer ifin it were stored in a wood box packed in ash (charcoal) what would help keep the air from gettin ta it.


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## SouthCentralUS (Nov 11, 2012)

http://archive.org/details/dixiecookbook00wilcgoog

This book was published in 1885 and meat curing begins on page 513. I did not see anything about ash however I thought someone might be able to use it.


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

I found this:

http://books.google.com/books?id=k9...#v=onepage&q=preserving meat in ashes&f=false


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

mdprepper said:


> I found this:
> 
> http://books.google.com/books?id=k9...#v=onepage&q=preserving meat in ashes&f=false


Md, I have that book, did you read the "Recipe" just below that ash reference?

Its for a coating for cured meats with one of the ingredients being "Lead Chromate", how times have changed, aye? Those old cook books are a wealth of knowledge regardless of the occasional hazzard that should be weeded out.

I download and keep every one of them I can find.



Coot said:


> Wish grandad were still alive Davarm, he'd a been able ta tell us. I thin it would help a cured smoked meat ta keep longer ifin it were stored in a wood box packed in ash (charcoal) what would help keep the air from gettin ta it.


I just wish I'd have learned more from that generation while more were still around, a wealth of knowledge that has to be relearned or it will be lost forever.



SouthCentralUS said:


> This book was published in 1885 and meat curing begins on page 513. I did not see anything about ash however I thought someone might be able to use it.


Thats a book I didn't have, but do now, thanks.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

If oldcoot's theory is right about the ash drawing out moisure and creating 'lye', which might aid in preserving/curing the meat, then a person would have to be careful to use ash from Hardwoods. Ash from soft wood such as Pine doesn't create lye. I don't know if it's important in meat perservation, but I thought I'd throw that out there.


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