Posts Tagged ‘Photo Credit’
Sodium Nitrite – What Is It?
Since the 1960s sodium nitrite has been used as a preservative in smoked meats, hot dogs, bacon, ham and sausages. Many think you should proceed with caution with foods containing sodium nitrite, but What Is It?
Sodium nitrite, a cousin to sodium nitrate, is a preservative that gives cured meats their distinctive flavor and reddish color. It also helps prevent the bacteria that causes botulism, but consumer beware. When sodium nitrite is combined with high heat it can produce a cancer-causing compound. Some researchers claim to have found a way to prevent the compound from forming, but not everyone finds truth in the claim.
What is true is that sodium nitrite tends to be used in the processing of meat products that have limited nutritional value. Oh, you can go ahead and have that hot dog or crispy bacon, but why not make it organic, better yet make it homemade and home cured. That why you know exactly what you’re eating.
photo credit: Health Tech Mall
Eating like Kings
We woke up this morning to the sound of pounding rain. In my previous life (before my world revolved around gardens and livestock and feeding) waking up to rain was one of my favorite things—contemplative and simple. Today however, it means sloshing in a downpour to take care of damp and hungry animals. But, we have developed a blueprint for mornings such as these. First, we bundle ourselves in layers of warm clothes, then cover it all with a barn coat and mud boots, ready to face any angry morning. We greet the dogs cheerfully, taking a few minutes to rub bellies and kiss wet noses before we make the mad dash out to the barn. The dogs watch patiently from the doorway. Cowards!
The weekend was delicious. A home cooked breakfast of farm fresh eggs, laid by our feisty pack of hens; handmade Breakfast Sausage we learned to make from our friendly butcher Kent; and warm buttermilk biscuits smothered with butter and homemade blueberry jam or topped with local honey. It makes venturing out into any angry winter morning easier when there’s a hot breakfast waiting when you return.
It hits me once in a while that so many of our meals come from our backyard. We spent the weekend devouring farm eggs for breakfast, soup made from our own chickens for lunch and a hearty lamb tagine for dinner. In a few months there will be greens and peas from the garden for salads and early berries for cobbler or popovers. Savoring every bite makes all the sweat and blisters and achy muscles worth it. Really!
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Aenean nonummy hendrerit mauris. Phasellus porta.