ending the cure

[Jim]

Dry curing is a method of meat preservation and also now days used to develop a prized flavor and texture of meat that only this process can deliver. A simple way to look at this is like washing clothes:
1. Clothes are put into a washing machine with laundry detergent = washing =>>>> Meat is placed into a pot or zip lock bag coated with cure and spices. During this step the meat is permeated with the cure – this stage is called curing.
2. Clothes are taken out of the washing machine and put into the dryer = drying =>>>>> Meat is taken out of the curing pot or zip lock, sealed into UMAi Dry and placed in the fridge on a wire rack to dry- this step is called drying.

You determine how dry you want your clothes by the amount of time they spend in the dryer, if they come out of the dryer moist they will continue to dry after you take them out, provided you hang them up. If you put moist clothes in a warm closet without airflow, they may start to develop smells, funny “flavors” in there.
If however, the clothes are bone dry coming out of the dryer then they will not dry anymore and you can safely put them in the closet =>>> If you take the dry cured meat out of UMAi Dry after it has lost 50% of its weight, it is unlikely to continue to dry anymore.
If however it has lost only 25 or 30% of its weight, it may continue to release some moisture slowly and needs to be handled accordingly.
Curing however has stopped in both cases.
Disclaimer: This is of course an extremely simplistic way to look at an otherwise a very complicated process.
I hope this helps.