Ingredient
Erythorbate
Also known as Sodium erythorbate, Erythorbic acid, D-isoascorbate, E316
The mirror-image form of ascorbate, a cure accelerator that speeds and fixes colour and helps curb nitrosamines.
Sodium erythorbate is the stereo-mirror of sodium ascorbate, and it does the same job in curing at lower cost. As a cure accelerator it drives nitrite towards the nitric oxide that fixes the pink cured colour quickly and evenly, and by mopping up reactive nitrogen it helps limit nitrosamine formation. It carries essentially none of the vitamin C activity of true ascorbate, which is irrelevant to its role here but is why the two names are kept apart.