Where can I buy curing salts?

Question

I am having a hell of a time finding curing salts for chow's pancetta recipe. I don't want to order online, so has anyone seen or purchased curing salts in San francisco? With so many restaurants doing housemade salumis and such, you'd think this would be easier to get.

 HELP!

Answer

kosher salt comes to mind (really cheap). i prefer run-of-the-mill coarse sea salt (pretty cheap) but it's all good.
am i missing something?

Answer

Had the same experience last fall with no time to wait for an online order. It seemed bizarre to us also that it was so hard to find. We finally bought some from the great guys at Willowside Meats in Santa Rosa. They actually advertise no nitrates in their sausage, because they freeze them immediately, but use the pink salt in their bacon and so on.

Willowside Meats 3421 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa 707-546-8404

I'd say it is worth the trek to sample some of their work.

We made pancetta from Ruhlman and Polcyn's Charcuterie - amazingly savory and so simple.

-----
Willowside Meats & Sausage
3421 Guerneville Rd, Santa Rosa, CA

Answer

Any butcher with housemade sausage might sell you some.

This is a butcher supply place, dunno if they sell retail:

-----
Carlson's Seasoning & Food Equipment
50 Mendell St # 12, San Francisco, CA

Answer

www.sausagemaker.com

Check out their prices for spices. ;)

Answer

I agree the shortage of curing salt in Calif is amazing. Was in MO several years ago, and plenty of Morton's Curing Salt on the shelves. You might want to check this web site.
http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/curing-salt?gclid=CL3pyZLL4JMCFQWxsgodhT_UZg

Answer

Check the Morton site where you can purchase on line:
mortonsalt.com
Check the link to Merchandise and then meat curing.
There is also a "Product Locator" to select a product by Zip Code

saltygator

Answer

Here's a Home Cooking board topic that discusses online sources and other home-curing issues:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/394708

Answer

Whole Spice at the Napa Oxbow market has pink salt.

Answer

FYI, I just saw two kinds of dry curing salt at the Village Market in the Ferry Building. In the back of the shop where they have salts, there are bags on the lowest shelf.

Answer

There are two places in the Bay Area, peninsula specifically, that I always get it from. Dittmers in Mountain View and Village Market in San Francisco. Dittmers charges $5 per ounce ($80/lbs!!!) or $24/lbs for more than a lbs. I faxed Dittmer to fix this pricing error so we will see if he updates the pricing. Village Market has it for around $5/lbs which is more like the price you should be paying for something that is 93.75% table salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite.

As a side note, the recommended amount of 25lbs per ounce is only for a dry cure. If you use a wet brine you must follow the recipe. I have used a recipe which called for 1.5 ounces for a 4-5 lbs brisket using a wet brine method.

Answer

Surely there must be a place to buy curing salts in the East Bay. Anyone have any info?

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Where can I buy curing salts?

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