Everyone reading this has probably – at one time or another – partaken of smoked Meat, Fish, Cheese or other foods of some kind. And most of us know that smoked goodies contain carcinogens, as well. Now, science has found a way to improve smoke taste while reducing cancer causing agents…
Smoked Foods – There’s nothing else quite like them! Soon, they may be getting safer.
Researchers from a number of institutions have banded together to test the effectiveness of Zeolite filtration on smoke used to add flavour to Meats and other foods.The idea is to remove as much of the cancer-causing material from the smoke as possible and, so, make it safer to enjoy.
Zeolite filters are already used to remove carcinogenic compounds in auto exhaust in some jurisdictions.
Dr. Jane K. Parker, leader of the study team, says, “The smoking process can cause carcinogens to form in foods. Not all smoked foods are dangerous, but we do know most can contain low levels of these substances, so we should try to remove them. If we could produce a smoke with fewer carcinogens, but that still has the same great taste, that would be ideal. Zeolite filters haven’t been applied to food yet. We want to change that.”
The best filter they developed removed as much as 93 percent of benzo[a]pyrene, a known carcinogen.
But how does it taste?
Perhaps surprisingly, foods smoked with fumes run through the Zeolite filter were deemed tastier and less harsh than those smoked the ‘natural’ way.
To address this question, the researchers smoked tomato flakes, coconut oil and water using either filtered or unfiltered smoke. Then, they added the smoked tomato flakes to cream cheese and used the water to brine some chicken. A panel of expert tasters trained to describe differences in flavor profiles with standard terminology tried the cream cheese, coconut oil and chicken.
“To the tasters, the chicken made with filtered smoke had a bit of a ‘Christmas ham’ aroma and a more rounded balanced flavor,” Parker says. Foods made with the unfiltered smoke, by contrast, tended to score higher in the categories of ‘ash tray’ and ‘acrid smoke.’ ”
Some indications of why the filter works…
Parker and her team have analyzed both natural and filtered smoke in a mass spectrometer to identify the compounds that make each up. It appears that the heavier compounds in Natural smoke are missing from the filtered smoke, giving researchers an idea of how the process works.
“These chemicals may be the ones giving the foods a harsher flavor and aroma profile,” Parker says.
Commercial/home filters not available any time soon
In spite of the groundbreaking nature of the Parker tream’s findings, it’s not likely that home or even large commercial versions of the Zeolite filter will be available soon for barbecue lovers or food processors. There’s still a lot of work to be done, adapting the filters to the Meat treatment process. And zeolite filters won’t be cheap when they are available.
We’ll keep you posted…
~ Maggie J.