Input please for meat curing.

[theoldarcher]

I will be helping build a facility in northern Ghana to process hogs for locals.  Right now they butcher once a week under a shade tree (not the most sanitary conditions) and share the meat (some barter involved) and consume most of it the day it's butchered (no refirgeration).

There is electricity in Domongo, and the potential to have a line for the facility = some electrical equipment and a little cooling, but not much.  ANY cooling would be a plus, though.  And this would be only for the facility, not users's homes.

Now for any help you can offer--greatly appreciated!!  Tell me about some of the methods for salt, sugar, and smoke curing of pork.  These might be methods to help 'spread out' the consumption so there is a more steady supply of protein, and may let the locals sell meat through a retailer in town.  What size facility should be considered for any of thest methods of curing--figure butchering 3 or 4 hogs a week, maybe a few more but not many more.  How long does each of these methods take in order to make non-electrified home storage of meat possible?

Thanks for your replies and for any additional input I may not have thought to ask about.

Blessings, Arch

[IOWA DON]

I've been making hams out of pork loins for the past year or so. It's easy enough to find the curing powder which is a combination of sugar, salt and saltpeter. I leave the pork in a sulution of this and water for 2 or 3 days. However, that is in a refrigerator. Then I smoke them, getting the meat hot enough so that it is cooked. My grandfather put away a lot of pork but think the butchering was done in cold weather. He put it in crok buckets with a lot of salt and stored it in a potatoe cellar. My dad said it would last well into the summer but occaisionally there was a little mold on the top peices which was scrapped off before cooking. I think a good potatoe cellar my stay bellow 60 deg F in the summer.

[mannyrock]

Arch,

    I admire your courage, but I think you are fighting a losing battle, considering that you are talking about the heat, humidity, parasites and filth of Ghana.   And, if someone screws up and eats badly stored pork, death can be more than likely.

   Cutting the pork into small thin pieces, thoroughly cooking them, and then storing them in barrels of packed salt (with each piece totally packed in salt, and no piece of meat toughing another), is a possible way to go.  Research how "salt pork" was made during the U.S. Civil War.  It was a mainstay of meat for both armies.   

   Yet, this requires lots of work, and lots and lots of salt, and lots of time in de-salting the meat after you remove it from the barrel.  I simply don't think that this is worth it, from your standpoint.

   Beans are extremely high in protein, far cheaper than meat, and easy to dry and store, and so I think  that you would reap much better returns on storing protein by focusing on growing/buying extra beans, storing them over time in sealed clay pots, and eating them at times when fresh meat is not plentiful.

   What are the hogs being fed to get them up to weight?  Beans?  Corn?  Hopefully not.

Best Regards,

Mannyrock

[Oldshooter]

He put it in crok buckets with a lot of salt

There used to be one of those in my Grand ma's utilty room! when I went past it i'd pinch off a hunk and eat it! the good days was when i didn't get a wood spoon upside my head for doing it!

Thats how it was done there until the 70's when they could afford a deep freeze!

[rokefert]

Well I cold smoke hams and loins that i cure in a salt sugar and nitrite/nitrate solution.  Granted this is done in cool weather, and i later freeze the meat, but if you google making "country style" hams, or curing meat, you will find what your looking for.  I also agree that a root cellar, may be a good option for cooling the meat and curing it, better than doing it in the heat with flies present.  Maybe a large relatively sanitary cellar in a shaded area could be something you could come up with if you have access to the materials. The type of curing that you will need to do to preserve the meat will require a lot of salt which will make the meat unpalatable without soaking to remove the salt before consumption, but it can be done---my grandfather cures his hams in a crock on his basement floor, and its not particularly cool down there either, maybe in the mid 50's near the floor.  Saltpeter (potassium nitrate) or sodium nitrite and nitrate the modern replacements will be essential in what you plan to do, but you must educate them on the proper use of such curing agents, as they are toxic at higher dosages.  Things like clean cloth to wrap and smoke the hams and shoulders in, and paper to wrap to protect during aging will help also.  It wasn't that long ago that our grandparents, and their parents had to this to make winter hogs last into and through the summer.  My Grandmothers father used to hang his hams near the peak of a hay barn in the shade and near the breeze.  Cool dry air will keep things from spoiling.  The info is out there and ive read a ton of it.  Sounds like a fun challenge.  Good luck!!!

[hillbill]

people in the southren united states used to cure pork,bacon, smoke hams etc.im talking areas where it almost never froze in the winter.your area may be similar.however from what research ive done on old time methods, the amount of salt and other chemicals it takes is kind of unhealthy. of course not as unhealthy as starveing by far.it might be cheaper to set up a small assembly line for canning the pork in small batches say a couple hundred lbs at a time.if the locals would return the jars etc when they wanted more canned pork, perhaps a habit could be established.let us know what yu find out?

[Blue Duck]

I guess Id smoke some that I was going to eat fairly soon and Id can the rest.   A good pressure canner, a little salt and your in business.  Seems the safest and easiest way to be sure.

[SHOOTALL]

Order yourself a copy of the Foxfire books as it has the method you need . First cold weather was hog killing time here but many places kill hogs and some are warm . The simple use of a tarp kept wet over the work area will give some cooling ( know to some as an Outer Banks frig ) . My family had a wooden box about 4 ft long by 3 ft by 3 ft deep . Would put in layer of salt ( non iodine ) then layer of meat (non should touch ) then salt then meat then salt to the top . The smoking removes moisture along with sealing . The blue green mold was on every ham ( would be unsure if it was not there ) . The salt will continue to draw moisture out . We hung hams and sausage after smoking in cool weather and put rest in the box . The smoke house was 10 ft wide and 12 ft deep . 4-5 hogs a year depending on size. We would take a wash tub that the gavl. was burned off or other similar metal container set it on bricks in the smoke house and burn wet ( aged - not green ) wood to smoke the meat . If memory is still good the meat was smoked 10-12 hours , check foxfire book .
Will you boil the hog and leave the skin on the meat you cure ?

[SHOOTALL]

I salt fish in buckets , Scale them clean them wash them , dry with a paper towel and place in layers of salt . They last a couple years this way but they are best if not eaten for a few mos. gives the salt time to work . I really don't see meat going bad if covered in salt short term . .It may dry out to much and get tuff . With the fish we soak them for a couple days changing the water .

[mannyrock]

   As for the time it takes to either salt "cure" or smoke "cure" pork, my understanding is that it takes from several weeks to several months, in a highly controlled little area, depending on the methods used.  Again, if you are in Ghana, forget it.  I just can't see them spending all of this time and trouble.  Trade all of the surplus fresh pork at the market for dried beans, put them in clay pots, seal them with wax, store them in a cool dry place, and they should be good for a year.  Higher in protein, lower in fat,  and safe to eat.

[bilmac]

There is a reason folks who live in primitive conditions do things the way they do. Communal butchering and then sharing the meat out to be consumed quickly makes sense for them. How long will some sort of western way of doing things last after you are gone? If anything I would maybe try to

[SHOOTALL]

Great point Bilmac , its also the storage of food that allows man to better himself both by being able to do things other than spend all his time feeding himself and learning how to produce more and get a value out of it . Become farmers and producers instead of hunters gathers .

[243dave]

I gotta agree with you too Bilmac.  When I first read mannyrocks post about the beans I thought it was a great idea but beans has a major flaw,  they're low in fat.  In harsh environments where food is scarce a fat rich diet is better than carbs and proteins.  Why?  Because fat has 9 calories per gram while carbs and proteins only have 4.  But I admitt a big reserve of beans stored for hard times would be easy.  If only the people of Ghana would grow their own beans and live stock their burdens would be eased.  The solution may be something along the lines of irrigation of water and the education of fertiliers and seeds after that raising live-stock would be easier.   Dave

[bilmac]

I no nutritionist, but I think that fat is way more important in cold climates. There are plants that can provide fats like corn. My point is that we want to make big changes in these undeveloped places, but often times there are good reasons why they don't do things the way we do them. If I'm not mistaken Ghana is mostly jungle. Jungle soils are notoriously infertileand not suited to agriculture.

To get back to Archers more immediate problem, I would suggest maybe work on trying to streamline the distribution of the meat. Does the village have a working monetary system so that a man who grows corn can procure some meat, and the hog farmer be able to buy corn. Instead of storing meat, they can store some form of money. Primitive cultures are often starved of "official" currency. Monetary policy is tricky, I know nothing about it, but I would think that maybe a locally acceptable means of assigning value to commodities would make perishable things get distributed quickly and efficiently. Even American Indians had their Wampum.

[mannyrock]

  .243 Dave,

       Interesting point about having some way to store fat. I had not thought of that. But, the best and cheapest way to store fat is to simply buy or make vegetable oil, and store it.  I don't think that animal fat is a necessity for living through the tough times.  Most large nuts are full of fat, and trading for nuts to store would also be a way to go.

       If storing some animal fat is a necessity, then the easiest thing to do would be to cut off the large pieces of fat from the fresh hog carcasses, and simply render the fat by cooking it to a prescribed temperature, and then pouring it in cans or pots, sealing them up, and  and storing them  in a cool dry place.   Finding the cool dry place in  the junble would be the biggest problem I think.

Regards,  Mannyrock

[bilmac]

Yup rendered lard does keep well in moderate climates, I don't know how it would do under constant extreme heat