Celery powder is a dried, ground concentrate prepared from fresh celery that is used as a seasoning and as a food preservative in organic meat products. Several commercial preparations exist, and it can also be made using a food dehydrator. Some celery powders are prepared from celery juice.[1]
How it's made
editCelery powder is made by harvesting celery leaves and transporting them to a processing facility where they are thoroughly washed and inspected. The cleaned celery is then finely chopped, blanched, and separated into juice and solids. The juice is pasteurized, concentrated, chilled, frozen, and stored. After a quality control inspection, the frozen juice is pasteurized again and dried using a vacuum dryer. The final product is then inspected, vacuum sealed in foil-lined bags, and packaged.[2]
Meat curative
editCelery powder contains a significant amount of naturally occurring nitrate and is often treated with bacterial cultures to produce nitrite.[1][3][4][5] In the United States, treated celery powder is sometimes used as a meat curing agent in organic meat products, which is allowed per USDA regulations because the nitrate/nitrite is naturally occurring.[3] USDA regulations do not allow artificially added nitrate or nitrite to be used directly in organic food products.[3] Meats cured with celery powder include hot dogs and bacon.[6][7] Celery powder prepared from celery juice has been shown to have a nitrate content of approximately 2.75%.[1]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Tarté, Rodrigo (2009-02-21). Ingredients in Meat Products: Properties, Functionality and Applications. Springer. pp. 398–399. ISBN 9780387713274.
- ^ Brown, Jerry (2007-01-31). "Petition for Amending the National List of the USDA's National Organic Program for inclusion of: Celery Powder" (PDF). USDA.gov (PDF).
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value (help) - ^ a b c Doyle, Michael P.; Sperber, William H. (2009-09-23). Compendium of the Microbiological Spoilage of Foods and Beverages. Springer. p. 78. ISBN 9781441908261.
- ^ Devine, Carrick; Dikeman, Michael (2014-07-22). Encyclopedia of Meat Sciences: 3-volume set. Elsevier. p. 451. ISBN 9780123847348.
- ^ Schwarcz, Joe (20 March 2017). "Is celery juice a viable alternative to nitrites in cured meats?". Office for Science and Society. McGill University. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
- ^ Neuman, William (July 1, 2011). "What's Inside the Bun?". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ Tanya Zuckerbrot, MS, RD. "The Truth About Bacon". Fox News Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links
edit- Video: Celery powder in cure meats, dyspelling myths Archived 2015-01-06 at the Wayback Machine. Pigprogress.net.