Description
The smoking technique, is a very old method that was used for food preservation.
This type of preservation, achieved by a careful choice of various types of wood to use, provides an important contribution to food color, aroma and also to the flavor, very distinctive and appreciated.
There are many smoked foods that can be found in trade, and among these we remember the much-loved speck, bacon, Prague ham, sausage, salmon, hot dogs, the harangue, and finally the provola cheese and scamorza cheese.
The traditional technique uses all substances that are derived from the smoke, which are released by means of a very slow combustion without the use of flames, but only for various types of wood containing no resin.
All substances penetrate the food surface part that is meant to smoke, altering in this way all the organoleptic properties, but prolonging the shelf-life, and for this specific purpose, are used basically very hard wood chips, such as of the oak, walnut, chestnut, poplar, beech and birch.
The aromatic plants that are used are the laurel, thyme, rosemary and marjoram, which have the purpose of improving the organoleptic traits food smoked a time.
A law prohibiting the use of impregnated wood or colored or glued and also with similar traits, that could cause problems to our health when consuming food.
Even using moldy wood and damp is not allowed by law.
The smoke coming out of the used timber, which also varies according to the type that is used there are the components to be considered, such as formaldehyde, or phenolic compounds, and also aliphatic acidsaliphatic acids, that exercise the preservative action which is also exalted by dehydration and heating of the product.
Very often the smoking technique, is preceded by other types of preservation such as the drying, salting and bagging in this manner that inactivate some microorganisms, increase the dehydration and give to the feeding stuff most taste and flavor, favoring also the smoke penetration.
In our day all of these types have been lost in the passage of time, and the smoking process is mainly only used to flavor foods, since it is no longer able to ensure a microbiologically stable product as the industry can do today.
Smoking and risks
As we have seen are very many substances in the process of smoking, and among them there are also those harmful to our health, such as polycyclic aromatic substances that are purely oncogene and even benzopyrene and benzoanthracene.
Through the various smoking techniques and manufacturing of foods, you are trying to limit the quantity of the compounds listed above as possible, through the use of the best wood, physical filters, distillation, humidity and temperature, which among other things are prohibited strictly by the legislature.
By means of the temperature which is employed through the smoking process, the products can be hot worked for about 2 up to 4 hours at 85 degrees, or parfait for several hours to 25 maximum 40 degrees, or cold water with a temperature no higher than 25 degrees for a few days.
Once the temperature drops in degrees, also the humidity must be reduced, while the exposure time must increase and this processing is used mainly for the production of smoked salmon and other raw foods.
The smoking of foods is done by means of special rooms, where it is conveyed the smoke realized by means of distinct rooms, such as furnaces for the incomplete combustion, smokehouses, purified beforehand by means of filters of different sizes in diameter, which have the specific purpose of retain the soot that comes out during the process.
Alternative processes
Among the techniques listed above, we must also mention the one that exploits the use of liquid smoke, which is obtained by purification of the smoke once the timber combustion.
Through distillation, decrease the toxic substances for our body, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (benzopyrene) which are carcinogenic.
The solution, once purified, is applied by spraying, dipping and showering for the dough of product.
This type has very few preservatives property and to confer this characteristic, they are often used additives such as nitrites, ascorbic acid and nitrates, as well as other preservation techniques.
All this you have just read, shows that handcrafted foods are not always desirable than industrial ones, because a smoked food made at home, is much more at risk of bacterial contamination by hydrocarbons, with respect to a product used in processes of industrial smoking, which are techniques used by law and severely punished in cases against and then in turn can not be marketed.
