Curing Salt (Pink Salt)

Pink salt is salt containing small amounts of sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate. It is essential in the preserving and curing of meats, and of course everyone's favorite, sausage making. The nitrate component inhibits the growth of bacteria, most importantly botulism.  In addition it preserves the color of cured meat because food should be appealing as well as tasty. Curing salt containing sodium nitrite is the more commonly used of the two and is used in most of our recipes. Sodium nitrate has the advantage of breaking down more slowly and for that reason will preserve meats for longer periods of time, this is especially useful when curing a whole muscle rather than a few pounds of sausage.  In small quantities neither salt is harmful, however, it is colored pink so that it is not mistaken for other types of salt because in large quantities it can be dangerous.