Citric Acid

[hankus46]

What if any purpose is citric acid in production of pressed ham or any other cured meats.
Thanks in advance

[Dave in AZ]

hankus46
Basically, none.
Citric acid is used to provide a simulation of the lactic acid tang you get from fermented sausage, so salami, pepperoni, old school summer sausage, etc.

Formed and pressed ham is not a fermented product, so you never see an acidic tang with it.

Products it is commonly used in are

1. summer sausage (which is now seldom made per its original authentic fermented uncooked sausage method), to provide a lactic fermentation simulation in a cooked sausage. By this point, probably most folks consider this the “correct taste”.
2. Slim jim style tangy snacksticks
3. Taylor pork roll for those who don’t ferment.
4. Cooked unfermented pepperoni simulations, not super close to actual pepperoni but fun, fast, tasty and recognizable.

Thise are the only items I can think of that are chemically directly acidified, and they are all cured too.

[Jonathon]

hankus46 It can be used to drop the pH if you wanted a tang and/or as a cure accelerator but there are better options for cure accelerators for pressed hams like Sodium Erythorbate

[mrobisr]

Jonathon said in Citric Acid:

but there are better options for cure accelerators for pressed hams like Sodium Erythorbate

Commercially that is what we used.