Soaking turkey meat in salt-glucose syrup solutions--an experimental study of mass transfers

Turkey meat can be salted and dried in one step by soaking in a concentrated salt-glucose syrup solution at low temperature. Sugar impregnation is minimal; only low molecular weight sugars generally penetrate the product. Glucose uptake is very quick, suggesting the possible involvement of passive glucose transporters. The operational scope of this process, depending on the targeted end-product features, was determined for turkey meat on the basis of clearly characterized mass transport phenomena between the product and the soaking solution. With 2 cm thick meat fillets processed at 10 C it is thus possible to obtain salted-dried end-products containing 2 to 10% salt and 35 to 70% water, ranges that are compatible with a broad range of commercial cured products.