Salt and Sugar

Salts have been used for thousands of years to preserve meats, and sugar has been used to preserve fruits and berries. How do they work?

Answer

Salt and sugar do their work on bacteria by osmosis, dehydrating them so that they die or are deactivated. A bacterium in very salty water has a saltier environment outside its cell membrane than inside. Water molecules will move from its inside through its water-permeable membrane to the outside to balance the salt concentrations, a process called osmosis. The bacterium shrivels up and dies. Sugar works by the same process to preserve fruits and berries. In the markets today one can buy “cured” hams and other pork products that use both salt and sugar to enhance the flavor.