Ingredient
Phosphates
Also known as Phosphate, Polyphosphates
Food-grade phosphate salts added mainly to cooked and emulsified products to raise water-holding and improve bind and texture.
Phosphates are functional salts used far more in cooked and emulsified charcuterie than in dry-cured work. Added at small levels they nudge the meat's pH upward and help the muscle proteins hold water, which improves juiciness, bind and yield in products such as cooked sausages and hams.
They do little for a traditional dry-cured salame, where the whole aim is to lose water rather than hold it, and where the classic recipes carry no phosphate at all. Their home is the cooked archetype, not the dried one.