I've been testing the curing calculator a few times. But I've yet to cure something because of one hangup: I don't have prague powder, and (in Sweden) it's hard to get. It annoys me, surely I must be able to cure meat with distilled water and salt only?
What say you, pit members? What does the prague powder add? Can I do without it?
Prague Powder contains 6.25% sodium nitrite - the rest is nacl, so if you can get the nitrite, you should be able to mix your own. I believe the color is only so you can tell it from table salt.
Edit to add that sodium nitrite is readily available on (US) amazon. And if you do find it, make sure it is food grade.
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If you are curing bacon/meat without nitrite it will end up grey and not pink/red. Also potentially exposing yourself to botulism. Can you order a jar off Amazon? I bought a jar from there and has lasted me 3 years.
Search for Nitritsalt or nitrite pickling salt. The nitrite percentage may be different, I'm not sure, but it is a nitrite curing salt just like Prague powder #1. Nordic Salts seems to be a Swedish producer
Thanks all for your contributions. So I think I got my question(s) answered. As Huskee said, salt+water is just a brine. Didn't think of that. And the prague powder is for adding nitrite, which adds color and helps prevent botulism. So, I'm gonna have to do some online shopping (Amazon). Today is a good day, I learned something new. I like that.
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