Salt lick

“ "God has given the salt lick to the deer; and He has given to man, red-skin and white, the delicious spring at which to slake his thirst. ”

“ Salt is likewise a preventive of disorders in stock fed with rank green food, as clover or turnips, and it is deemed a specific for the rot. Horses and horned cattle are also very fond of salt: the cow gives more milk, and richer in quality, when salt is mixed with her food. The wild beasts of the American forests leave their haunts at certain seasons, and travel in company to various places where salt is to be found. There they lick the ground on which the salt lies, or which is strongly impregnated by it. ”

“ Even [355] in the African wilderness certain animals will come many miles just to get a chance to lick up the salt at a certain place. The same is true of numerous places in our Wild West of to-day. Deer, in particular, are fond of coming to a “lick.” The craving for a taste of salt seems to induce them to cover vast distances. Hunters, knowing this love for salt on the part of game, often hide in ambush near such a magnet, and shoot down wild animals with the greatest of ease. ”

“ The importance of salt to animal life in general, is shown by the great appetite for it manifested by domestic animals, and also by the habitual resort of herds of wild beasts to the "salt-licks" or springs. In those parts of the world where salt is obtained with difficulty, man places a very high price upon it. ”

“ In Kentucky and Ohio in these days there were what were called "salt licks," because deer and buffalo frequented the places in order to gratify their longing for this almost indispensable commodity. Here they were able to secure with little effort whatever quantity of salt was needed.
Bob and Sandy were always on the lookout [161] for such "licks." They knew from Daniel Boone and O'Mara that, whenever they wanted deer, it was simplest to hide close to one of these salt licks, and wait until buck or doe came to gratify its craving; when they could usually secure their game by a single shot. ”

“ The brine in which several pieces of meat have been pickled will almost set into a jelly, so much of the valuable juices has it extracted from the meat, and all these are of course, wasted. It is said that a third of the meat, or even a greater proportion, is lost by salting. The salt can be drawn out of the meat by soaking it in water, but nothing can restore to it what it has lost. Every one knows that salted food cannot be used for any length of time without injury to the health. ”

“ I am acquainted with the fact that a diet consisting exclusively of salt pork and salt beef, with very little variation or change, would be, if continued for any length of time, combined with the absence of fresh vegetables, productive of much mischief, and in the end no doubt scurvy would be the result; but for us to assert that every outbreak of this disease is produced by salted provisions, is to run into a very ridiculous error, and we fall into a trap cunningly laid for us by those whose interest it is to keep up this preposterous imposition in the eyes of the not too discerning public. ”

“ The worst is that salted meat has lost those saline constituents that are not readily supplied except in fresh fruits and vegetables, precisely those foods that are rarest wherever salt meat is most likely to be used, in large towns, cold countries, during the winter season, or at sea. Sailors at sea get rations of lime-juice when their supply of vegetables brought from shore comes to an end, not to counteract the effects of the salt, as some suppose, but to furnish in another form what the brine has taken away. In Norway, salt food and scurvy are alike common. ”

“ When the cutting up was all done, the hams and shoulders were put in a cask by themselves, and Mr. Van Brunt began to pack down the other pieces in the kits, strewing them with an abundance of salt.
"What's the use of putting all that salt with the pork, Mr. Van Brunt?" said Ellen.
"It wouldn't keep good without that; it would spoil very quick."
"Will the salt make it keep?"
"All the year round—as sweet as a nut."
"I wonder what is the reason of that?" said Ellen. "Will salt make everything keep good?"
"Everything in the world—if it only has enough of it, and is kept dry and cool." ”

“ Some persons like salted meat to be red. For this purpose, saltpetre is necessary. Otherwise, the less use is made of it the better, as it tends to harden the meat. Sweet herbs, spices, and even garlic, may be rubbed into hams and tongues, with the pickle, according to taste. Bay salt gives a nice flavour. Sugar is generally used in curing hams, tongues and beef; for the two latter some recommend lump sugar, others treacle, to make the meat eat short. ”

“ Beef and pork should be well sprinkled, and a few hours after hung to drain, before it be rubbed with the preserving salts; which mode, by cleansing the meat from the blood, tends to keep it from tasting strong; it should be turned daily, and, if wanted soon, rubbed. A salting tub may be used, and a cover should fit close. Those who use a good deal of salt will find it well to boil up the pickle, skim, and when cold pour it over meat that has been sprinkled and drained. In some families great loss is sustained by the spoiling of meat. ”

“ Mere desiccation, indeed, can hardly ever be employed upon flesh. Culinary salt is generally had recourse to, either alone or with the addition of saltpetre or sugar.
These alkaline salts abstract water in their solution, and, consequently, concentrate the aqueous solution of the albumen; whence, by converting the simple watery fluid into salt water, which is in general less favourable to the fermentation of animal matter than pure water, and by expelling the air, they counteract putridity. On this account, salted meat may be dried in the air much more speedily and safely than fresh meat. ”

“ They are first rubbed with salt on their inside, or flesh sides, then placed one on the other, the flesh sides uppermost in a salting trough, which has a gutter round its edges to drain away the brine; for to have sweet and fine bacon, the flitches must not be sopping in brine, which gives it the sort of taste that barrel-pork and sea-junk have, and than which is nothing more villainous. Everyone knows how different is the taste of fresh dry salt from that of salt in a dissolved state. ”

“ This, as practised in Hampshire, Yorkshire, and in various large establishments elsewhere, consists in merely well rubbing ordinary culinary salt, mixed with a little saltpetre, into the meat, until every crevice is thoroughly penetrated, and, afterwards, sprinkling some over it, and placing it on a board or in a trough, in such a manner that the brine may drain off. On the small scale, in private families, a mixture of salt, 2 lbs., with saltpetre, 11⁄2 or 2 oz., either with or without about an oz. of good moist sugar, is commonly used for the purpose, and imparts a fine flavour to the meat. ”

“ The action of these alkaline salts upon animal substances is, as already noticed, to abstract the water in the juices of the meat, and, being dissolved therein, the salts enter the pores of the animal substance; the albumen of the meat, which is more liable to putrefaction than the gelatine and fibrine, is thus rendered less so. There are two methods of salting, dry salting and pickling. In dry salting, the meat is packed in dry salt, or in some cases the surface is rubbed all over with salt. ”

“ Everything, as is well known, can be used and abused, and salt, like other natural productions, owing to human avarice, can be put to a purpose so as to derange and render nugatory the laws of health. We know full well that salt completely arrests the formation of putrescent larvæ in meat, if it is rubbed in when fresh, or if it is well soaked in strong brine; and if the meat is bordering on decomposition, we may prevent it proceeding to a more advanced stage by immersing it in brine; still it is not in a condition fit for human consumption. ”

“ But the quantity—stowed away in a dry corner of the wagon—was small, and would have gone but a short way in curing an elephant.
They had no idea of using it for such a purpose. Flesh can be preserved without salt; and not only Swartboy, but Von Bloom himself, knew how to preserve it. In all countries where salt is scarce, the process of “jerking” meat is well understood, and consists simply in cutting it into thin strips and hanging it out in the sun. ”

“ If shipowners took more care in provisioning their ships with wholesome food, instead of allowing them to be stored with bad pork, putrid beef, and rotten biscuits, we should not read the heart-sickening accounts so frequently in the newspapers. It is all very well for them to assert that the disease springs from salt, and the absence of vegetable food ”

“ ANOTHER PICKLE FOR TONGUES, BEEF, AND HAMS. To three gallons of spring water add six pounds of common salt, two pounds of bay-salt, two pounds of common loaf sugar, and two ounces of saltpetre. Boil these over a gentle fire, and be careful to take off all the scum as it rises: when quite cold it will be fit for use. Rub the meat to be cured, with fine salt, and let it drain for a day in order to free it from the blood; then immerse it in the brine, taking care that every part of it shall be covered. Young pork should not remain more than from three to five days in the pickle ”

“ Intestinal worms, which so frequently infest the impure, rendering them somewhat offensive to themselves, generate much more rapidly, and take a firmer hold on their victims, even if there is but partial absence of salt in the blood, and particularly if pork is frequently an article of diet. I have known many instances in which they have been expelled, and the intestines thoroughly freed from them, on a more liberal use of salt, for it is certain death to these parasites, helping to root them out, and destroying them, whether they belong to the tape, the round, or the thread variety. ”

“ When he be stuffed with unsound and with unripe fruits, with much sweets, with rich puddings, and with pastry, and when he is oftentimes allowed to eat his meat without salt, and to bolt his food without chewing it, is there any wonder that he should suffer from worms? The way to prevent them is to avoid such things, and, at the same time, to give him plenty of salt to his fresh and well-cooked meat. Salt strengthens and assists digestion, and is absolutely necessary to the human economy. Salt is emphatically a worm-destroyer. ”

“ On that occasion I remarked, that salted meats after some time become in effect putrid, though they may continue long palatable by means of the salt; and that common salt, supposed to be one of the strongest preservatives from corruption, is at best but an indifferent one, even in a large quantity; and in a small one, such as we use at table with fresh meats, or swallow in meats that have been salted, so far from impeding putrefaction, it rather promotes that process in the body. ”

“ On the flesh side it is only necessary to sprinkle the salt over all the surface. Care must be taken to get some salt into every depression and into the hock end of all joints. An experienced meat salter goes over the pieces with great expedition. Taking a handful of the salt, he applies it dextrously by a gliding motion of the hand to all the surface, and does not forget the hock end of the bones where the feet have been cut off. Only dry salt is used in this method of curing. The meat is never put into brine or “pickle,” nor is any water added to the salt to render it more moist. ”

“ A piece of meat left to itself soon gives out a bad smell and undergoes putrefaction. The higher the temperature [334] and the damper the air, the more rapid the rate of decay. That is why the approach of winter and as far as possible a dry time are chosen for the annual pig-killing. Salt in liberal quantities is used for preserving the meat, lard, and fat. Salted meat dries without becoming tainted, and keeps for a long time, though not indefinitely, since sooner or later it turns rancid. Nevertheless salting is the best way to preserve meat. ”

“ It is not to be regretted if salt meat is driven away from our markets by fresh, for salt draws the juice out of the meat with all its soluble constituents, and at the same time hardens the fibre of the meat itself, and so makes it less digestible. ”

“ I have known people who accustom themselves to the use of salt baths, and who talk very glibly of the luxury of sea-bathing, who yet are in complete ignorance of the virtues of salt as a condiment and as a preserver of health, and who try to prove that salt so used is obnoxious, and consequently to be avoided. These salt baths are popular, not because they are beneficial, but by reason of their comparative novelty; and accordingly, many who would not think of using salt with their food, plunge headlong into the sea or into a salt-water bath, with all the vigour possible. ”

“ If the cream is of the right temperature when commenced, it will not froth, and if it does, put in a little salt. Use no salt but the best ground salt; work out all the butter-milk with a ladle in summer, in winter use clean hands. If you wish to keep it some time, put it down in a jar or firkin, or pickle in layers, as clean and free from butter-milk as it is possible, leaving a space for pickle over it, in the following proportions. Half a pail of water, one quart of fine salt, two ounces of loaf-sugar, one ounce of saltpetre, well boiled and skimmed. ”

“ Though salted provisions are apt to produce scurvy if continued for too long a time, yet in the case of those on board ship I do not think it arises exclusively from the salt itself, but by the unwholesome food upon which the toilers of the sea are obliged too often to subsist. The biscuits, which are of the coarsest kind, and sometimes worm-eaten, are certainly not calculated to keep up the stamina of the men; and the salt pork which they have three or four times a week is not exactly the food to promote a healthy condition of the blood ”