WINTER, BEST TIME FOR HOME CURING BACON

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 498, 21 July 1932, Page 2

WINTER, BEST TIME FOR HOME CURING BACON

Farm-cured bacon, provided it ' v properly handled and tho necoss.ar; attention is given to certain details is just as satisfactory as any tin farmer can buy.' It is an entirel; different process,’ however, from fac; lory curing, points out an exchange? The ideal temperature for curing i

about 42 degrees Fahr., and the best time for curing len the farm 'is, therefore, during the winter months, preferably during frosty weather and in a humid atmosphere, as in a collar, rather than in a dry atmosphere. Extremes of temperature are unfavourable. The pigs selected for slaughter should be free from disease and in a healthy condition gaining and not losing weight. They should be pro. furnished and free from bruises, cuts. sun.-sc.abl, etc. The live weight should be about 1751 b at about five and a-half to seven months old, which svives a dressed weight of about 1251 b, that being the desired weight to produce first-class baa n. Some, howover, prefer pigs of much higher weight for farm use. The pig should be kept off feed Cot 12 to 24 hours before slaughter and allowed to rest (without being chas. edi excited or overheated). A

plentiful supply of clean . drinkfcig water shymld be available, as this aids in emptying the entrails and is a great help in the dressing of the animal and in the process of curing. Careful handling of the pig prior to

slaughter is essential to the produ< tion of good bacon. Ordinarily it is not necessary ( stun or shoot the pig before stickinj and, although it is sometimes don< this method does not give the bes results in bleeding. More thoroug bleeding is assured if the pig i

hung up by the hind leg Bcr stickinj but care must be exercised to se that the pig is held properly so tha joint trouble and shoulder! stickin do not occur.