food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex in ...

, brining is treating food with

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for ...

or coarse salt which

preserves Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the met ...

and

seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

the food while enhancing tenderness and flavor with additions such as

herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

spices A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices are ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...

caramel Caramel ( or ) is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, or as a topping for ice cream and custard. The process of carameli ...

vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to eth ...

Meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

and

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

are typically brined for less than twenty-four hours while

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the edible flower, flowers, ...

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During productio ...

s and

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

are brined in a much longer process known as

pickling Pickling is the process of preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. The pickling procedure typically affects the food's texture and flavor. The resulting food is cal ...

. Brining is similar to

marination Marinating is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. The origin of the word alludes to the use of brine (''aqua marina'' or sea water) in the pickling process, which led to the technique of adding flavo ...

, except that a marinade usually includes a significant amount of acid, such as vinegar or

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

juice. Brining is also similar to curing, which usually involves significantly drying the food, and is done over a much longer time period.

Meat

Brining is typically a process in which meat is soaked in a salt water solution similar to

before cooking. Meat is soaked anywhere from 30 minutes to several days. The amount of time needed to brine depends on the size of the meat: more time is needed for a large turkey compared to a broiler fryer chicken. Similarly, a large roast must be brined longer than a thin cut of meat.

Dry brining

Brining can also be achieved by covering the meat in dry coarse salt and left to rest for several hours. The salt draws moisture from the interior of the meat to the surface, where it mixes with the salt and is then reabsorbed with the salt essentially brining the meat in its own juices. The salt rub is then rinsed off and discarded before cooking.

Food scientist Food science is the basic science and applied science of food; its scope starts at overlap with agricultural science and nutritional science and leads through the scientific aspects of food safety and food processing, informing the development ...

s have two theories about the brining effect, but which one is correct is still under debate. *The

surrounding the cells has a higher concentration of salt than the fluid within the cells, but the cell fluid has a higher concentration of other

solutes In chemistry, a solution is a special type of homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is a substance dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. If the attractive forces between the solven ...

. This leads salt ions to diffuse into the cell, while the solutes in the cells cannot diffuse through the cell membranes into the brine. The increased salinity of the cell fluid causes the cell to absorb water from the brine via

osmosis Osmosis (, ) is the spontaneous net movement or diffusion of solvent molecules through a selectively-permeable membrane from a region of high water potential (region of lower solute concentration) to a region of low water potential (region ...

. *The salt introduced into the cell denatures its

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

s. The proteins coagulate, forming a matrix that traps water molecules and holds them during cooking. This prevents the meat from dehydrating.

Fish

As opposed to dry salting, fish brining or wet-salting is performed by immersion of fish into brine, or just sprinkling it with salt without draining the moisture. To ensure long-term preservation, the solution has to contain at least 20% of salt, a process called "heavy salting" in fisheries; heavy-salted fish must be desalted in cold water or milk before consumption. If less salt is used, the fish is suited for immediate consumption, but additional refrigeration is necessary for longer preservation. Wet-salting is used for preparation of: * Salted

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean ...

, non-gutted, with hard or soft roe and heavily salted (20% NaCl brine, with final product containing around 12% salt), *

Soused herring Soused herring is raw herring soaked in a mild preserving liquid. It can be raw herring in a mild vinegar pickle or Dutch brined herring. As well as vinegar, the marinade might contain cider, wine or tea, sugar, herbs (usually bay leaf), spic ...

which is

gutted Disembowelment or evisceration is the removal of some or all of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract (the bowels, or viscera), usually through a horizontal incision made across the abdominal area. Disembowelment may result from an accident ...

and lightly salted (2–3% NaCl), without

roe Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked in ...

, *

Anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

, which can be immersed in brine or wet-salted. After several years, the fish liquefies and can be processed into paste or anchovy butter, *

Caviar Caviar (also known as caviare; from fa, خاویار, khâvyâr, egg-bearing) is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread. Traditionally, the te ...

and other types of

Vegetables

Pickled vegetables are immersed in brine,

vinaigrette Vinaigrette ( , ) is made by mixing an oil with a mild acid such as vinegar or lemon juice (citric acid). The mixture can be enhanced with salt, herbs and/or spices. It is used most commonly as a salad dressing, but can also be used as a marina ...

for extended periods of time, where they undergo anaerobic

fermentation Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...

which affects their texture and flavor. Pickling can preserve perishable foods for months. Antimicrobial herbs and spices, such as

mustard seed Mustard seeds are the small round seeds of various mustard plants. The seeds are usually about in diameter and may be colored from yellowish white to black. They are an important spice in many regional foods and may come from one of three diff ...

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus '' Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakf ...

cloves Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or Aroma compound, fragrance in fi ...

, are often added. Unlike the

canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, althoug ...

process, pickling (which includes fermentation) does not require that the food be completely

sterile Sterile or sterility may refer to: *Asepsis Asepsis is the state of being free from disease-causing micro-organisms (such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses, pathogenic fungi, and parasites). There are two categories of asepsis: medical and surgi ...

before it is sealed. The acidity or salinity of the solution, the temperature of fermentation, and the exclusion of oxygen determine which microorganisms dominate, and determine the flavor of the end product.McGee, Harold (2004). '' On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen''. New York: Scribner, pp. 291–296. .

Cheese

Brine is used in two ways in cheese production: *

Brined cheese Brined cheese, also sometimes referred to as pickled cheese for some varieties, is cheese that is matured in brine in an airtight or semi-permeable container. This process gives the cheese good stability, inhibiting bacterial growth even in warme ...

s, such as

halloumi Halloumi or haloumi (, el, χαλούμι, haloúmi; tr, hellim}) is a traditional Cypriot cheese made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes also cow's milk. Its texture is described as squeaky. It has a high melting point ...

and

feta Feta ( el, φέτα, ) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep's milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it ...

, are pickled in brine. *

Washed-rind cheese Washed-rind or smear-ripened cheeses are cheeses which are periodically treated with brine or mold-bearing agents. This encourages the growth of certain bacteria on their surface which give them distinctive flavors. There are hard and soft washed ...

s, such as

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...

, are washed with brine during the production process.

References

External links

Brining
on Cooking For Engineers - a discussion on what happens to meat as it brines (with reader comments) {{Salt topics Cooking techniques Food preparation techniques Salted foods Culinary terminology