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meat that salt would otherwise absorb. Sugar also plays a minor role in fighting bacteria.
    For our purposes, the more important second ingredient is nitrites and/or nitrates. Sodium nitrate is commonly injected into the ham, where it turns into nitrite. Nitrite is important in fighting botulism and other microorganisms that spoil meat or render it rancid. Nitrites also lend the dominant taste we associate with cured meat (bacon wouldn’t taste like bacon without nitrites).
    Unfortunately, for all the good nitrite does in keeping ham and other meats from spoiling, a controversy has arisen about its possible dark side. When nitrites break down, nitrous acid forms. Combined with secondary amines (an ammonia derivative combining hydrogen and carbon atoms), nitrous acid creates nitrosamines, known carcinogens. The debate about whether nitrosamines develop normally during the curing process is still swirling.
    But nitrite was used to cure pork even before these health benefits and dangers were known, because it has always been valued as an effective way to color the meat. Nitrites stabilize the color of the muscle tissues that contain the pink pigment we associate with ham, as do some of the other salts (sodium erythorbate and/or sodium ascorbate) that help hasten the curing process.
    Most curing today is done by a machine, which automatically injects a pickle cure of (in descending order of weight) water, salt, sweetener, phosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrate, and sodium nitrite. Usually, multiple needles are stuck in the ham; the more sophisticated machines can inject even bone-in hams. After this injection hams are placed in a cover pickle, where they sit for anywhere between a few days and a week. Hams that sit in cover pickle sport rosier hues than those that are sent directly to be cooked.
    Hams are smoked at very low temperatures, under 200 degrees Fahrenheit, usually for five to six hours. Some cooked hams (“boiled ham” is a misnomer, as few hams are ever placed in water hotter than 170 degrees Fahrenheit) are cooked unsmoked in tanks of water and tend to be duller in color. These hams are usually sold as sandwich meat.
    One of the reasons why hams are beloved by amateur cooks is that, like (cured) hot dogs, they are near impossible to undercook or overcook. More than a few Thanksgiving turkeys have turned into turkey jerky because cooks didn’t know when to take the bird out of the oven. Luckily, hams are precooked for us. We might have to pay for the privilege, but it is hard for even noncooks to ruin their texture or tarnish their pinkish color.
     
    Submitted by Dena Conn of Chicago, Illinois .
     
     
    Why Does Warm Milk Serve as an Effective Sleep-Inducer for Many People?
     
    Scientists haven’t been able to verify it, but there is some evidence to support the idea that milk actually might induce sleep. Milk contains tryptophan, an amino acid, which is the precursor of a brain transmitter, serotonin, which we know has sedative qualities.
    Recently, L-tryptophan supplements, which had gained popularity as a sleeping aid, were banned by the Food and Drug Administration because they caused severe reactions in some users, including eosinophilia, an increase in the number of white blood cells. Earlier research confirmed that L-tryptophan did help many people get to sleep faster than a placebo.
    But does cow’s milk contain enough tryptophan to induce sleepiness? This has yet to be proven. Representatives of the dairy industry, who might be the first to claim such a benefit for milk, are reluctant to do so and are openly skeptical about its sleep-inducing qualities. Jean Naras, a media relations specialist at the American Dairy Association, although dubious about the sedative effects of milk, cited research that indicated it might take a dose as high as a half-gallon to provide any sleep benefits. And with this quantity of milk intake, your bladder might argue with your brain about whether you really want