Preservatives guide?

[msminnamouse]

Could someone please point me to a guide or book or website that covers the preservatives used in cooking and how to use them, how much, in what environment (high heat, low heat, acid or base, moist or dry), etc.? I'm not selling baked goods or anything. It's for making jerky and pet treats. Especially pet treats, like turkey jerky and other dehydrated meat and pet treats. Thanks for any leads. I'm aware of baking911 but don't really have the money for a membership.

 

[Hoot]

The drying process is, in and of itself, a method of preserving meat. Removing the moisture inhibits the bacteria that causes meat to spoil. I can speak from personal experience that, if kept absolutely dry, lean meat can be kept for 2 years or more. A fatty meat will not keep as long and may go rancid. In humid areas of the country, it will take some doing for it to last that long. Of course, the addition of flavoring agents makes the process somewhat problematic, as well.
I will leave discussion of added preservatives to other, more knowledgeable, folks here.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I agree with Hoot. I've made jerky before and never used any preservatives. It will keep just fine for many months.

Besides that, dog saliva has anti-bacterial properties. They don't need food with preservatives. Without getting too gross, think of all the things dogs ingest that you or I literally wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole.

 

[mcnerd]

Interesting comment since it has been shown that a human's mouth is worse than a dog's and both of us need preservatives for storing foods for an extended period before it gets into our mouths. Commercial companies do this for us, though there is a trend to perfect ways to preserve foods without as much chemicals, such as using irradiation.

For home prepared foods, however, preserving techniques are limited. The most common is refrigeration and freezing, home canning, and dehydrating. For most home recipes I would stick to the first choice, using vacuum-seal bags for freezing in so that freezer burn is controlled/eliminated.