PRESERVATION OF MEAT—BISULPHITE OF LIME.

Southland Times, Issue 1080, 28 December 1868, Page 3

PRESERVATION OF MEAT—BISULPHITE OF LIME.

♦" (From the 'Argus,' December 5.) T"he " food resources" of the British Empire form 1 now a subject of not a trifling national imfpwtalnce, and appear to be yearly growing a afore serious question. The increase of population, I and the necessarily enlarged area brought j under cultivation from the larger demand : for agricultural produce, have naturally diminished the once wide area of laud available for depasturing 1 purposes. The public attention is lfl coiJare^ueuce most seriously directed to foreign sources of ; supply/ and Victoria has not been bebindi baii'd in answering to the call. Mr I Wentworth Lascelles - Scott. F.C.&, i author of ' Food and* its' Adulterations/ I &c, and one who has written most volum- \ inously upon the above subject, has just ; forwarded to the colony a table showing the results of the examination which took place in London last October of aotrie few casks c*f preserved meat 'forwarded per Llnctfihshire. The meat was experimented upon by Messrs Keep and Perry, of this town, and the now somewhat noted bi-sulphite of lime was the only preservative liquid used, with the qideption of one cask, in which brime formed a portion of the contents. The table of results is too bulky to be inserted intact, and we are sorry we cannot place it before our readers in a more complete form, as it is just as important to publish failures of experiments with a new preservative as it is the successes. .We shall, however, extract as much of the interesting particulars as we can afford space for ;— "A I.— Cask of wattle staves, and ] containing 3001 b mutton.— The meat was steeped in concentrated bi-sulphite of lime forty-five minutes. After being headed up, a pint of the ' bi ' was poured in at the bung-hole, the thermometer standing at 46 ° . This cask was opened September 30, and cooked October 5. The odour was good ; color, quite natural in parts ; structure, perfect ; and when cooked was quite satisfactory, and of good flavor. » B 3. — Cask of wattle wood ; contents as last. — Steeped thirty minutes, and filled up with a preservative mixture, three parts being brine; thermometer, 46 ° . The odour was good ; color, much darkened ; structure, fibre much contracted. When cooked (boiled) was really excellent. " E. 4. — Cask of oak, containing 1001 b. beef.— Steeped and treated as B 3. Thermometer, 63°.; odour, good; structure, darkened, but natural in places; as roasted, it was too tender; better as boiled; and very good as stewed." From the above much information may be gathered. It must be borne in mind in the first place that when the first importation of bi-sulphite of lime arrived no specific instructions accompanied it, and the consignees here were obliged to work almost in the dark. Many days and weeks were spent, and many a hundredweight of meat thrown aside as failures, before any correct opinion could be arrived at as to the proper strength in which the solution, or concentrated ' bi/ should bt used, the proportinate quantity, and tin time of submersion. The casks of meai per Lincolnshire were, to all intents am purposes, an experimental lot, and th< information respecting their introduction to the jury in England, and the repor from the latter, will be most valuable not only to the agents but to the publi at large. When the particulars of th stiiptnent in question ' were forwarded n England the consignees, although pessesia ; well-grounded knowledge of the prese]

Yative powers of tfo^ bi^KiM out too hopes that trader the Victorian mode of \ treatment any erne of the caskd, or even joints, would arrive 1 in a sound condition, from a less quantity of tlie liquid! havrag. been used than is now advised in tie patentee's instructions for use. Messr*. Bailey (patentee), Scott, arid- »"■ larger^ number of gentlemen opened the casks" in London Docks, and from the '* ab*. surdly small" quantity of "/bi" used,/ ; fully anticipatecTthat all would turn ou^v in a decomposed state; This was not the 1 case however;, for three of the casts—two mutton and one beef— opened in ais* soimd a condition as could be wished; and in reference to one of th# : legs a' gentleman writes— "You will be pleased to hear that I dined to-day from a leg of j the preserved mutton from cask ' A l,'l and found it excellent, perfeg.ly free from taint, . and of good flavor." This \ letter bears date October T, being just seven days after the cask was opened.