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Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of a combination of salt, nitrates, nitrite〔("Historical Origins of Food Preservation." ) (University of Georgia, National Center for Home Food Preservation ). Accessed June 2011.〕 or sugar. Many curing processes also involve smoking, spicing, or cooking. Dehydration was the earliest form of food curing.〔 Salting or curing draws moisture from the meat through a process of osmosis. Meat is cured with salt or sugar, or a combination of the two. Nitrates and nitrites are also often used to cure meat and contribute the characteristic pink color, as well as inhibition of ''Clostridium botulinum''. Curing was the primary way of preserving meat and fish until the late 19th century. Meat preservation (including livestock, game poultry), includes a set of treatment processes for preserving nutritious properties, taste, texture and color of raw, partially cooked or cooked meats while keeping them edible and safe to consume. The invention of such processes can be traced back to antiquity, and although some come from 18th- and 19th-century research, the latest discoveries concerning meat preservation stem from nuclear physics and biochemistry. The preservation of the meat has always been a method to prevent against famine, but has also acquired a political and economic dimension in the growth of the human population. In developed countries, this conservation depends largely upon the food industry, in particular the meat industry, rather than individuals. For lesser-developed countries, the Food and Agriculture Organization believes that the absence of meat preservation techniques would present a serious obstacle for the development of viable meat production by resource-poor rural livestock producers.〔''Manual on simple methods of meat preservation'', p.5. FAO, 1990, ISBN 92-5-102744-7.〕 == Necessity of curing == Meat degrades if it is not preserved, at a speed that depends on several factors: its acidity, the ambient humidity, the presence of pathogens, and the temperature. In 1836, the food safety officer Burnet gave the times that different meats will keep in temperate climates, given that they are hung individually in the air without touching metal, stone, or wood, and specifying that they fare better if kept away from heat, water, and air:〔Burnet, ''Dictionnaire de cuisine et d’économie ménagère. À l’usage des Maîtres et Maîtresses de maison, Fermiers, Maîtres-d’hôtel, Chefs de cuisine, Chefs d’office, Restaurateurs, Pâtissiers, Marchands de comestibles, Confiseurs, Distillateurs, etc.'', Librairie usuelle, Paris, 1836, 788 pages + 11 planches, p. 760.〕 Beyond these times, the meat changes colour and begins to exude a foul odor which ought to alert the cook that the ingestion of the spoiled meat could cause serious food poisoning. Even if one plans to use the meat before it spoils, curing can facilitate storing and transport, or constitute a first step in a recipe. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Curing (food preservation)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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