Curing (food preservation)

High school (ages 12+)
Food & Cooking

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/curing-food-preservation

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary preservation mechanism?Reduction of water activity (aw) through osmosis, inhibiting microbial growth
2. What is the historical dominance?The principal method for meat and fish preservation prior to widespread refrigeration
3. What is curing in food?Curing is a way to keep food, especially meat and fish, safe and tasty for a long time by using salt and sometimes special chemicals.
4. Why do we add salt when curing food?Salt pulls water out of the food through osmosis, making it hard for bacteria to grow.

Water Activity (aw): A measure of the unbound water available for microbial growth and chemical reactions.
Osmosis: The net movement of solvent molecules through a selectively permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration.
Clostridium botulinum: A bacterium that produces a potent neurotoxin causing botulism, a potentially fatal illness.