Food preservation technique: Smoking

Smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. It is an ancient method of preserving food using wood smoke. It is believed to be almost as old as the use of fire itself.

Smoking is still widely used in fish and meat and some other foods. The smoking process allows cured meats, poultry, game and seafood to be subjected to smoke in a controlled environment. The smoke is produced by smoldering hardwood chips, vines, herbs, fruit skins, or spices.

While smoking process, some reactions occur between food and smoke. After smoking process, a second covering shell occurs in food or meat products. Smoking operation which adds some volatile compounds to the product inhibits bacterial growth and gives a specific taste to the product. This smoke influences the flavor, aroma, texture, appearance and shelf life of foods. The process can be performed at temperatures that range generally from 65°F to 250°F.

Food smoking is part of a revival of old crafts and traditional foods, and an increase in food awareness – people want to know what's in the food they are eating. The trend is towards high-quality ‘slow’ food, with local, natural ingredients free from chemical additives. Smoking is a way for farmers, smallholders, hunters and fishermen to make use of large amounts of meat or fish at certain times of the year.

Meats and fish are the most common smoked foods, though cheeses, vegetables, and ingredients used to make beverages such as beer, smoked beer, and lapsang souchong tea are also smoked.
Food preservation technique: Smoking

Smoking of fish

Smoking is often used to preserves and flavor meat, fish, and cheese, etc.  It is likely the practice of smoking meat and fish outdates the art of cooking in containers, as open-fire contact (roasting) with food must have been the earliest form of cooking even before earthen ware pots were made.

The importance of wood as fuel, with wood smoke as an integral part of that and perhaps later its utilization in food processing is tied to the same aspect of civilization.

At a dig in Bishkupin, Poland, scientists discovered a fish scales and bones of bass, bream, catfish, pike and roach showed the site to be an eight or tenth century fish smoking plant, which prepared large catches from Biskupin Lake for a large population.

Smoking foods is one of the most ancient food preservation process and in some communities one of the most important. Native Americans of the East Coats and Caribbean preserved fish and haunches of venison by stretching them over cane or wooden racks above a slow, fragrant fire of grass, herbs and mesquite or hardwood.

When Spanish expeditioner Hernando De Soto reached Tampa Bay, Florida, he studied the Timucua method of building strong wood scaffolds over the fore for the roasting of deer, dog, alligators, fish and snake.

Fish could easily be smoked. Before the invention of the chimney, houses normally had thick smoke above head level, slowly finding its way to the smoke hole. Hanging gutted fish on the rafters lightly preserved it by drying and partially cooking it.

More modern methods of smoking fish us formulation of liquid smoke to provide flavor and a range of methods of drying to reduce water activity on the surface. Most drying methods use heat to change the relative humidity of the air passing over the fish.
Smoking of fish

Food processing of smoking

Smoking foods is one of the most ancient food preservation processes and is some communities one of the most important. The use of wood smoke to preserve food is nearly as old as open air drying.

At first smoking of food could be considered a side effect due to preservation by drying in the fireplace. Later on, the process was developed and changed and was combined with other processes such as salted dried, and fermented.

Smoking has been mainly used with meat and fish. The main purpose are it imparts desirable flavors and colors to the foods and some of the compound formed during smoking have a preservative effect due to the presence of a number of compounds. 

Depending to the smoking procedure, the moisture drops 10-40%. Compounds present in smoke with bactericidal and antioxidative properties are deposited on and penetrate into the food especially meat. 

Important smoke ingredients include phenols, acids and carbonyl compounds.

Smoking of meat uses the heat of burning wood to cook the meat while adding flavor to the meat through the variety of wood being used. The wood used to generate the smoke should be of the hardwood species. In America, the wood varieties that are used are hickory, mesquite, oak, pecan, alder, maple, apple, cherry and plum.

Curing and smoking of meat are closely interrelated and are often practiced together, that is cured meat is commonly smoked and vice versa.

Meat exposed to temperature s of 165 to 185 degrees will fully cook. The best methods ensure meat in the smoker is fully cooked is to use a meat thermometer and probe into the deepest part of the cut to ensure the heat has reached all the way to the center.
Food processing of smoking