622 



Home Curing of Bacon. 



[Oct., 



HOME CURING OF BACON. 



Mrs C. E. Curtoys. 



It is a cause for general satisfaction that there has been a 

 revival in the country districts of the home curing of bacon, 

 especially during the past year. For a variety of reasons this 

 thrifty and sensible practice had largely been gi^en up. The 

 importation of large quantities of foreign bacon for many years 

 past had so reduced the price of the home produced article that 

 country folk had begun to get indifferent about curing their own, 

 ?nd seemed to find it easier to run to the village shop for what 

 they required. Then came the War, prices rose, and bacon 

 realised unheard-of prices. We are still paying very large sums 

 to foreign countries for bacon when every shilling is needed at 

 home, and the imported bacon cannot compare in quality and 

 flavour with our own home-cured. 



There is no important reason why most country folk should 

 not keep their own pigs and kill and cure their own ba<jon. The 

 trouble is small, and is more than compensated for by the 

 valuable return; the keeping of pigs is useful as well as profit- 

 able ; all waste vegetables and chat potatoes can be boiled up 

 and used for feeding the pigs; and the pigs in their turn will 

 provide valuable manure for garden or allotment. The bacon 

 pig does not require to be forced or richly fed, but should be 

 fed steadily and regularly and not be over-fat. A plump pig of 

 10 to 12 score will make the best bacon, and a good bacon pig 

 of about this weight should be ready at 8 or 9 months old. An 

 eight weeks' old pig bought about May and fed through the 

 summer should be ready about the following November. 



Bacon can be cured in two or three different ways, all simple 

 and easy, and involving no expensive paraphernalia. It can be 

 (1) dry salted, (2) brine cured, or there may be (3) a combination 

 of both. Some of the best bacon is cured by the last method, 

 which has the further merit of effecting the curing most rapidly. 

 The methods of curing commonly vary with the locality, but all 

 three .methods may be found in one locality. There are also 

 different methods of cutting up the pig for ba<;on. 



In the north, where pigs are weighed by the stone (14 lb.) 

 and are mostly Large Whites, they are sometimes allowed to 

 grow to a great size, and it is common to have a bacon pig 

 weighing 40 stone. The usual weight, however, is 25 to 35 stone, 

 and 25 stone is the best weight; beyond that the proportion of 

 fat to lean becomes excessive and wasteful, and has a tendency 



