So food goes bad when bacteria grows on and feeds on the food and then releases harmful waste by product.
Well, part of dry aging food isnconteoling s the conditions in such a way to prevent bacteria from growing/spreading.
Bacteria has certain life requirements to thrive. Things such as temperature and humidity are controlled that prevents the bacteria from growing or growing extremely slowly so it doesn’t spread and basically poop out enough poison to make the meat go bad
2 things cause meat to go bad. Oxygen and bacteria.
Many fermented/aged things create an environment that both control oxygen as well as make it hostile to bacteria. Salt being one of the biggest factors, a lot of salt is super hostile to most living things. With that comes literal centuries of knowledge and people succumbing to bad processes.
Not all microbes are spoilage microbes, allowing the correct environment for the beneficial ones to outcompete the spoilage ones is key. Temperature and humidity conditions plus factors such as salinity, pH and water activity (dryness) play a huge part in this.
Its almost all about moisture management. Bad microbes can’t live without enough water.
Certain meats are cured in salt. This draws out the moisture. This is how many sausages are aged. Those aged sausages are also stored in special rooms that are cool and below a certain humidity threshold.
Beef jerky uses the same principle, just using a dehydrater (and honey is just dehydrated nectar)
Other aging methods like dry aging steak use temperature to control the microbes while the meat dries. You can buy a membrane that allows moisture to leave the meat but not get back in. You have to store it in a fridge. More traditional dry aging methods use a lot of salt to dry out the air which draws out the moisture without having to salt the meat directly. The cold ambient temperature gives you more time to pull this off without bad microbes taking off before the meat sufficiently dehydrates
Most other meat preservation methods rely on some form of dehydration/salting/curing to get the water out of the meat
Other foods like cheese are preserved by implanting good microbes which essentially crowd out the bad. Wine relies on specific yeasts to turn it into alcohol instead of turning it sour or into vinegar. Beer is boiled first before the yeast can turn it into alcohol–though beer spoils if not bottled and stored properly
Basically the answer is salt. Salt can essentially turn meat into forever food. Salt pork powered the age of sail.
Also, meat actually tastes the best right before it spoils. In the wild this is why cats tree their kills, they come back after the adrenaline stress relaxes from the meat. Apparently the stress of dying effects the taste of stuff.
Like many animals, humans are very good at not only at observing things, but also our senses, like smell sight, and taste, give us clues as to how safe things are.
We have learned ways to make things harder for bad, illness-causing bacteria. And we have ways to make things better for good bacteria.
We use things like salt, lack of excess moisture, time, temperature and introducing good bacteria to things. We make many cheeses this way. While milk begins to change over time, we introduce good bacteria and change where and how cheese is stored to make sure only the good bacteria can work.
We also age meat, often but adding salt or even smoke that cuts off bad bacteria from the things they need to thrive.
Salt was one of the first ways we could see that things did not spoil, but also being in smokey environments in houses made food age differently. Other times we noticed that things buried a certain way did not age and spoil like other stuff, so we tried to imitate that and see if it did the same thing with our food.
Dead bodies did not decay as quickly in places like bogs, so we attempted to store things like butter there and it worked.
People in cold places learned that if they stored food in cold places that never thawed, it would not spoil as quickly. They probably learned this from finding dead things that hadn’t decayed as quickly when they stayed frozen.
Humans are not the only ones that do this. Animals like tigers will leave animals they kill underwater because they figured out it does not decay the same way and their stomachs can still handle the aged meet.
you hang it up in a cool, dry space out of sunlight and let it dry out, cutting off any rot that begins to form. the more fat an animal has the better, the rot will start from the exposed surfaces, so more fat = rot starts there and gives the rest more time to dry and cure.
you can also add salt, but thats more for moist and hot environments.
Create an environment that favors beneficial organisms over the nasty ones. It’s what they do with alcohol, meat, cheese, and so on. If there isn’t any known good bacteria you can smoke and/or salt it to dry it out and.deny microbes water.
A few weeks ago I made a piece of cured pork.Basically, I mixed equal parts salt and sugar, buried the piece of meat in the mixture, and left it in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Then I washed it well to get rid of all the “gummy” stuff off it (in addition of the salt and sugar). Here you could add herbs and seasonings, spreading them well over the meat. Wrap it in a thin cloth that lets the meat “breathe” (I used sterile gauze, it helps prevent contamination). Tie the cloth with string and leave it in the refrigerator for about two weeks. If you leave it longer, the meat will dry out more and become a little tougher (ideal for slicing thinly).
Now, all of this works because the salt and sugar draw out the liquid from the meat, not only concentrating the flavor, but also preventing the creation of an environment where harmful bacteria can proliferate. Some fungi may grow on the meat, but as long as it’s white, it’s fine (if I’m not mistaken, it’s penicillin or something similar, but I’m not sure). However, if it’s black or green, you should throw away the piece and start over (I would recommend cleaning the fridge)
However, it is not the only way, and each type of food is preserved differently (such as vegetables in oil, fruits in syrup, or smoked meat).
Sorry if I made it a bit long, I hope this answers your question.
Salty, dry and cold makes it hard for bacteria to grow and even kills it. Smoke also. Over time, with a lot of trial and error, people have figured out how to control these processes.
Controlled environments. They ensure that the space is sufficiently clean and devoid of harmful organisms or bacteria that may cause spoilage, and may even introduce specific ones in the case where you want them, like when making blue cheese for example. The space in which the food is aged/cured has controlled climate, temperature, humidity, air filtration, and in some cases the people coming in and out of them may even have to go through an airlock or wear hazmat suits. Depends on the exact food.
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You reduce moisture and heat as best as you can
So food goes bad when bacteria grows on and feeds on the food and then releases harmful waste by product.
Well, part of dry aging food isnconteoling s the conditions in such a way to prevent bacteria from growing/spreading.
Bacteria has certain life requirements to thrive. Things such as temperature and humidity are controlled that prevents the bacteria from growing or growing extremely slowly so it doesn’t spread and basically poop out enough poison to make the meat go bad
2 things cause meat to go bad. Oxygen and bacteria.
Many fermented/aged things create an environment that both control oxygen as well as make it hostile to bacteria. Salt being one of the biggest factors, a lot of salt is super hostile to most living things. With that comes literal centuries of knowledge and people succumbing to bad processes.
because it’s DRY aging so no moisture witch means no bacteria.
Not all microbes are spoilage microbes, allowing the correct environment for the beneficial ones to outcompete the spoilage ones is key. Temperature and humidity conditions plus factors such as salinity, pH and water activity (dryness) play a huge part in this.
It does “go bad” in a way, just not enough to be a problem.
I asked same here: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/s/368stl9Geg
Salt mostly, hence why Portuguese sailors ate so much salted cod
Its almost all about moisture management. Bad microbes can’t live without enough water.
Certain meats are cured in salt. This draws out the moisture. This is how many sausages are aged. Those aged sausages are also stored in special rooms that are cool and below a certain humidity threshold.
Beef jerky uses the same principle, just using a dehydrater (and honey is just dehydrated nectar)
Other aging methods like dry aging steak use temperature to control the microbes while the meat dries. You can buy a membrane that allows moisture to leave the meat but not get back in. You have to store it in a fridge. More traditional dry aging methods use a lot of salt to dry out the air which draws out the moisture without having to salt the meat directly. The cold ambient temperature gives you more time to pull this off without bad microbes taking off before the meat sufficiently dehydrates
Most other meat preservation methods rely on some form of dehydration/salting/curing to get the water out of the meat
Other foods like cheese are preserved by implanting good microbes which essentially crowd out the bad. Wine relies on specific yeasts to turn it into alcohol instead of turning it sour or into vinegar. Beer is boiled first before the yeast can turn it into alcohol–though beer spoils if not bottled and stored properly
Bad bacteria like water and warmth. Good bacteria like salt, acid, cold (some good, some bad), and dry. P.S. Smoke kills most bacteria.
38 deg. F. Any colder and it won’t age. Warmer and it starts to rot.
Basically the answer is salt. Salt can essentially turn meat into forever food. Salt pork powered the age of sail.
Also, meat actually tastes the best right before it spoils. In the wild this is why cats tree their kills, they come back after the adrenaline stress relaxes from the meat. Apparently the stress of dying effects the taste of stuff.
Like many animals, humans are very good at not only at observing things, but also our senses, like smell sight, and taste, give us clues as to how safe things are.
We have learned ways to make things harder for bad, illness-causing bacteria. And we have ways to make things better for good bacteria.
We use things like salt, lack of excess moisture, time, temperature and introducing good bacteria to things. We make many cheeses this way. While milk begins to change over time, we introduce good bacteria and change where and how cheese is stored to make sure only the good bacteria can work.
We also age meat, often but adding salt or even smoke that cuts off bad bacteria from the things they need to thrive.
Salt was one of the first ways we could see that things did not spoil, but also being in smokey environments in houses made food age differently. Other times we noticed that things buried a certain way did not age and spoil like other stuff, so we tried to imitate that and see if it did the same thing with our food.
Dead bodies did not decay as quickly in places like bogs, so we attempted to store things like butter there and it worked.
People in cold places learned that if they stored food in cold places that never thawed, it would not spoil as quickly. They probably learned this from finding dead things that hadn’t decayed as quickly when they stayed frozen.
Humans are not the only ones that do this. Animals like tigers will leave animals they kill underwater because they figured out it does not decay the same way and their stomachs can still handle the aged meet.
you hang it up in a cool, dry space out of sunlight and let it dry out, cutting off any rot that begins to form. the more fat an animal has the better, the rot will start from the exposed surfaces, so more fat = rot starts there and gives the rest more time to dry and cure.
you can also add salt, but thats more for moist and hot environments.
Create an environment that favors beneficial organisms over the nasty ones. It’s what they do with alcohol, meat, cheese, and so on. If there isn’t any known good bacteria you can smoke and/or salt it to dry it out and.deny microbes water.
A few weeks ago I made a piece of cured pork.Basically, I mixed equal parts salt and sugar, buried the piece of meat in the mixture, and left it in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Then I washed it well to get rid of all the “gummy” stuff off it (in addition of the salt and sugar). Here you could add herbs and seasonings, spreading them well over the meat. Wrap it in a thin cloth that lets the meat “breathe” (I used sterile gauze, it helps prevent contamination). Tie the cloth with string and leave it in the refrigerator for about two weeks. If you leave it longer, the meat will dry out more and become a little tougher (ideal for slicing thinly).
Now, all of this works because the salt and sugar draw out the liquid from the meat, not only concentrating the flavor, but also preventing the creation of an environment where harmful bacteria can proliferate. Some fungi may grow on the meat, but as long as it’s white, it’s fine (if I’m not mistaken, it’s penicillin or something similar, but I’m not sure). However, if it’s black or green, you should throw away the piece and start over (I would recommend cleaning the fridge)
However, it is not the only way, and each type of food is preserved differently (such as vegetables in oil, fruits in syrup, or smoked meat).
Sorry if I made it a bit long, I hope this answers your question.
Salty, dry and cold makes it hard for bacteria to grow and even kills it. Smoke also. Over time, with a lot of trial and error, people have figured out how to control these processes.
Controlled environments. They ensure that the space is sufficiently clean and devoid of harmful organisms or bacteria that may cause spoilage, and may even introduce specific ones in the case where you want them, like when making blue cheese for example. The space in which the food is aged/cured has controlled climate, temperature, humidity, air filtration, and in some cases the people coming in and out of them may even have to go through an airlock or wear hazmat suits. Depends on the exact food.