Introduction to Bacon & the Art of Living
The story of bacon is set in the late 1800s and early 1900s when most of the important developments in bacon took place. The plotline takes place in the 2000s with each character referring to a real person and actual events. The theme is a kind of “steampunk” where modern mannerisms, speech, clothes and practices are superimposed on a historical setting. Modern people interact with old historical figures with all the historical and cultural bias that goes with this.
The Salt of Meat
December 1892
Dear Children,
This is my third letter about salt and there may be a fourth. It really is one of the most important substances used in bacon production. Michael from Calne taught me a lot about it and while Minette and I are on our voyage back to England, it affords me a great opportunity to review it.
He knows a lot about salt. He has visited many of the great salt mines, from Poland to America, from Austria to the Arabian peninsula Your grandfather has been to salt works in German West Africa to our north. Of course, you heard him tell the many stories of his travels with Livingston. On those adventures, they often trecked through salt pans
Salt had two key functions in antiquity. One was the taste! Exquisite salts were created by artisan salt makers whose trade has been handed down over thousands of years. Each region produces salts as unique to that region as the different wines from Spain or Italy. This is, to me, the supreme function of salt since it is what we love! The other great value is as a preservative of meat.
Witsand by Misty Cliffs on the Cape peninsular where our story is unfolding. Taken around 1949 by Granny Frick.
The Salt in Meat
Before we look at the salt that we put in meat, it is important to know that meat contains salt naturally. Looking into the prehistoric past to try and unravel the mystery behind our use of salt, we consider our biological need for salt. Meat, blood, and milk contain far more salt than many plants. Nomads who subsisted on their flocks and herds or hunters who regularly ate meat did not need additional sources of salt. Agriculturalists or nomads who for any number of reasons did not eat meat required supplementary sources of salt.
Lack of sodium is life-threatening. “Sodium is critical for determining membrane potentials in excitable cells and participates in various metabolic reactions in the body. An adequate intake of sodium is required for optimal growth. Rats maintained on low sodium diets exhibit decreased bone and muscle weights and required a daily intake of 300 μEq Na+ for normal growth of fat, bone, and muscle tissues. In a study conducted by Bursey and Watson “sodium restriction during gestation in rats increased the number of stillborn pups, led to smaller brain size and amount of protein per unit of wet brain tissue, and decreased total brain RNA.” Severe sodium restriction may negatively affect glucose metabolism and disturb normal blood viscosity. Distribution of intracellular and extracellular fluid volumes are dictated by sodium, and either a deficit or excess of sodium will alter overall fluid balance and distribution. Under normal circumstances, deviations from optimal body fluid homeostasis are corrected primarily by the kidneys, and proper renal handling of sodium is necessary for normal cardiovascular function. We can say that “survival and normal mammalian development are dependent on adequate sodium intake and retention” (Morris, M. J., et al., 2008)
A lack of sodium intake causes the onset of hyponatremia, a condition associated with sodium levels not being adequate in blood. It is too low due to either too much water or not enough sodium intake. This condition is characterized by nausea and vomiting, headaches, confusion, loss of energy, fatigue, restlessness, irritability and muscle weakness, spasms or cramps.
Examples of Hyponatremia from Primitive Societies
David Livingston describes that he often saw conditions in the early 1800s on his travels in Africa, where poor people were forced to live on a vegetarian diet alone and as a result of this developed indigestion. His comment came in the context of a reference to the Bakwains, part of the Bechuana people, who allowed rich and poor to eat from the meat hunted. He mentions that the local doctors knew what the cause of the indignation was and that it was related to a lack of salt intake. (Hyde, A., et al.; 1876: 150)
It is fascinating that Livingston describes that on two occasions later in his life, he was himself deprived of salt for months and yet, he did not have any cravings for it (Hyde, A., et al.; 1876: 150). Interestingly enough, he reported cravings for meat and milk which he knew had enough salt to cure the onset of symptoms associated with a low salt diet.
Do we Naturally Crave Salt if our Sodium Levels are too Low?
We have seen that we need salt, but do we know that we need it? Do we feel “sodium deprived” and intuitively seek out salt? We have four or possibly five taste sensors in our mouths. Of the five, one is wholly dedicated to tasting the sodium ion, the charged atom responsible for the love of salt. Vegetarian/ herbivore and omnivore animals are similarly equipped. Interestingly enough, in a study on rats, it was shown that some of them naturally recognize salt deficiency as the cause of their hyponatremia. Others had to be taught through experience. Studies have shown and described how long-term changes in the brain as a result of hyponatremia may be behind an increased appetite for salt in animals. There is in other words, a biological reason for animals to be “directed” to salt. (De Luca, 2014) They either crave salt when in a sodium deficient condition naturally and in some cases, it is clear that they developed the craving.
If we naturally craved salt, it would explain our love for salt and the fact that it is so dominant in our diets. People would have naturally sought out salt deposits to amend their diets. The fact, however, is that the salt appetite of humans does not fit the biological model. There are great similarities between humans and other animals in how we handle sodium, but also very important differences. The sodium ion is essential for both humans and animals and we both have special sensors dedicated to its detection. Humans and animals share the same physiological systems that regulate it in the body, both ingest far too much of it and both show that a lack of sodium immediately following birth enhances the love of it. Unlike animals, people do not enjoy pure salt. Humans don’t like it in water while it has been shown that some rats prefer it. Importantly, humans do not respond to sodium deficiency by craving for it and it never becomes a learned craving after an incident of hyponatremia. (De Luca, 2014)
Animals who have been deprived of salt increase their salt intake robustly. Studies in rats showed that if they have been deprived of it once, they permanently increase consumption of it but not so in humans. The dedicated sodium receptors in humans do not direct us to it when there is a deficiency in our bodies. There are records of humans dying from hyponatremia with salt around them. There have been many studies in humans to try and prove the opposite, but in every case, results are inconclusive at best. The evidence is clear that, unlike animals, humans will seek sodium to satisfy our pallet but not to save our lives. (De Luca, 2014)
In humans, there is no satisfactory current explanation for the prominence of our sodium taste receptors or “for the powerful influence it exerts on our predilection for salt as the prime condiment and food additive that gives taste and tang to our food and is of no nutritional necessity.” (De Luca, 2014) The question comes up, why not? There must obviously have been a time in our pre-history where we did not need this or when having it, was a disadvantage.
The Structure of Salt
Let us pause a bit and look at the structure of salt to help us make sense of all this. Salt is a crystal that contains many elements, but as a matter of practicality and due to the widespread application of sodium chloride in industry, ended up being produced around the world with only these two elements. Both atoms consist of a nucleus with a positive electric charge – an island floating in a sea of electrons which are negatively charged particles. If one brings together one atom of each of these elements, the chlorine atom steals an electron from the sodium atom: the first becomes a negatively charged chlorine atom and the second is transferred into a positively charged sodium atom.
Solid sodium chloride is a crystal of extremely regular structure. The pattern of sodium +/ chlorine – repeats indefinitely in three-dimensional space. Just as a side note, this is also the explanation for the name since a negative chlorine is called a chloride. (Laszlo, 2001)
Salt in Water
Salinity refers to water that contains various concentration levels of salt. The magic of salt happens when it comes into contact with water. When one adds a spoon full of salt to a glass of water, the salt “melts” into the water. When we evaporate the water, the salt forms a crystal.
The sodium chloride (NaCl) comes into contact with a water molecule and the water molecule bestows on the positively charges sodium ion and the negatively charges chloride ion water-sodium and water-chlorine forces of attraction that is at least as strong as the sodium-chlorine force of attraction. This is indeed the case and so, the sodium and chloride ions are pulled apart in water. It “melts away.” (Laszlo, 2001)
Salt we add to Meat
The most important function of salt in bacon is to enhance the taste. Especially non-refined salt! The second function of salt is to preserve. How it achieves this is a matter for science to elucidates further. In the evenings in Denmark, we read the work of Edward Smith. He listed the following mechanisms to deal with spoilage organisms namely drying, cold, immersion into gases and liquids, coating with fat and gelatine, heat, pressure and of course, salt. (Smith, E, 1876: 22 – 38)
Salt can not possibly be responsible for killing microorganisms. At least not in the concentrations we use. There must be some interaction between the salt and the microorganisms and it can’t always be negative for the bacteria. If this was the case, how would the bacteria responsible for changing the nitrate into nitrite from Dr. Polenski’s experiments survive and how would the microorganisms in the ocean deal with different levels of salinity.
The sodium and chlorine ions are separated in the water and have vastly different functions in meat. The first way that salt preserves are however a general one which is the result of the presence of salt on the outside of the cut of pork. It dispenses its first curing action by removing water from inside the pork muscle. Microorganisms want to live in a wet environment. The drier it is, the less active it will be. (Dworkin, M et al, 2006: 146) It is important how much water is available. Most bacteria need water activity at the same level as seawater at 25 deg C to flourish. (1) (Dworkin, 2006)
Endospore
Drying the environment or using salt is not a guarantee to get rid of bacteria. Some bacteria can survive even supersaturated saline solutions. The ones who can survive best are the bacteria that can form endospores and have other resting stages. (Dworkin, 2006)
This is important. Not just from the perspective of what happens inside the meat, but what happens in the environment where the meat is being processed. Endospores are present in soil and any transfer of soil into a processing area can bring about the transfer of bacteria into the meat processing area. This is a major problem related to the home curing of bacon.
An endospore is “a dormant, tough, and non-reproductive structure produced by certain bacteria. The name “endospore” is suggestive of a spore or seed-like form (endo means within), but it is not a true spore (i.e., not an offspring). “It is a stripped-down, dormant form to which the bacterium can reduce itself. Endospore formation is usually triggered by a lack of nutrients. In endospore formation, the bacterium divides within its cell wall. One side then engulfs the other. Endospores enable bacteria to lie dormant for extended periods, even centuries. Revival of spores, millions of years old, has been claimed. When the environment becomes more favourable, the endospore can reactivate itself. Most types of bacteria cannot change to the endospore form. Examples of bacteria that can form endospores include Bacillus and Clostridium.
Endospores can survive without nutrients. They are resistant to ultraviolet radiation, desiccation, high temperature, extreme freezing, and chemical disinfectants. Thermo-resistant endospores were first hypothesized by Ferdinand Cohn after studying Bacillus subtilis growth on cheese after boiling the cheese. His notion of spores being the reproductive mechanism for growth was a large blow to the previous suggestions of spontaneous generation. Astrophysicist Steinn Sigurdsson said, “There are viable bacterial spores that have been found that are 40 million years old on Earth – and we know they’re very hardened to radiation. ”Common anti-bacterial agents that work by destroying vegetative cell walls do not affect endospores. Endospores are commonly found in soil and water, where they may survive for long periods of time.” (BBC Staff, 2011)
Clostridium Botulinum
Clostridium is an example of bacteria that can form endospores. It consists of around 100 species that include common free-living bacteria as well as important pathogens. One of these species is clostridium botulinum. (Baron, 1996). Clostridium botulinum is an important pathogen. It forms endospores that can survive almost anything. Remember that salt has little effect on removing this pathogen from an environment. It also survives without water.
Botulinum toxin is a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. It is the most acutely lethal toxin known, with an estimated human median lethal dose (LD-50) of 1.3–2.1 ng/kg intravenously or intramuscularly and 10–13 ng/kg when inhaled. Nano denotes a factor of one billionth (10-9) which means that there are 1,000,000,000 nanograms in a gram. This shows the extreme toxicity of this substance. Botulinum toxin (BTX) can cause botulism, a serious and life-threatening illness in humans and animals.
Between 1817 and 1822, Justinus Kerner was the medical officer in southern Germany, in Württemberg. He had seen many people with symptoms of impaired breathing, difficulty in speaking, swallowing and seeing double. Kerner suspected that some type of biological poison related to eating sausages caused the symptoms. He investigated what the people ate and found that all of them ate sausages that were not properly cooked.
Between 1817 and 1822 he published a complete description of what he called “sausage poisoning” or wurstfift. The disease came to be known as botulism. He injected himself with the poison and caused many of the symptoms in himself. Luckily he survived, but he managed to show conclusively the causal relationship between the sausage material and the disease. (Emmeluth, 2010) (2)
Water Stress
Water stress, as it is called, is one of the key functions of salt in processing bacon. It becomes very complex, very fast when one relates this to wet cures. However, when we consider dry cute, it is obvious. Salt curing goes in the first place, hand in hand with partial drying techniques, aimed at preserving protein in a more lasting way. (Laszlo,1998) Salt “extracts” moisture from the meat by the water migrating out of the muscle towards the salt in an attempt to “balance” the salt levels on the outside of the meat with the inside. Salt at the same time “migrates” into the muscle.
Once inside the muscle, the salt now poses a threat to bacteria found inside the meat through the process of osmosis. Osmosis is the passage of solvent through a semipermeable membrane in response to different concentrations of solute on the two sides of the membrane. The description comes from the notion that salt or sugar attracts water when it touches the meat.
In 1748 J. A. Nollet used an animal bladder to separate chambers containing water and wine. He noted that the volume in the wine chamber increased and when the chamber was closed, a pressure developed. He named the phenomenon osmosis from the Greek word meaning thrust or impulse. (Sperelakis,1995)
Salt and Bacteria
Most bacteria will not grow at 3% concentration levels of sodium chloride (NaCl). It is important to remember that there are a number of important exceptions to this rule. Some bacteria and archaea (a single cell organism) called halophiles (from the Greek word salt-loving) require NaCl to grow. Moderate halophiles, such as marine bacteria, may show optimum growth at 3% NaCl. They require at least 1.5%. Some bacteria have been found growing in 25% NaCl concentrations. However, most bacteria stop growing at 3% NaCl. This, besides the lack of available water, is the only other way that salt performs its magic as a preservative for meat.
High salt concentration disrupts the membrane and denatures many proteins. (Srivastava, 2003) Generally speaking, salt has the same effect on microorganisms in the meat as it has on the meat itself. Since the sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration outside the microorganism is higher than inside, water flows out of the organism in order to try and restore equilibrium. The effect will be a slowdown in growth and activity.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
There are other advantages of using salt which becomes clear when one uses wet curing brine as opposed to dry cure. Wet curing has been used as a technique of curing pork for hundreds of years. There is a notable description of this process that Jeppe showed me from a historical American document.
In May 1804, an expedition departed from near St Louis on the Mississippi River, planning to make their way westward, through the continental divide to the Pacific coast. The expedition was known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition or the Corps of Discovery. It was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States.
The expedition was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. It consisted of a select group of U.S. Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark.
The journey lasted from May 1804 to September 1806. The primary objective was to explore and map the newly acquired territory, find a practical route across the Western half of the continent, and establish an American presence in this territory before Britain and other European powers tried to claim it.
The campaign’s secondary objectives were scientific and economic: to study the area’s plants, animal life, and geography, and establish trade with local Indian tribes. With maps, sketches and journals in hand, the expedition returned to St. Louis to report their findings to Jefferson.
On 3 April 1804, Clark described how pork was being packed and cured in barrels. He wrote on 17 April that they “completed packing 50 kegs of pork and rolled and filled them with brine”. It is clear that they were not using a dry salt preparation but rather a water-diluted salt mixture and perhaps adding sugar or adding flavourings that would make it taste better than and not as harsh as straight salting.
They would have used good kegs as leaking kegs were often responsible for meat spoiling. It went well and a month after Clark’s pork went into the barrels, Major Rumsey inspected it and condemned only approximately 10% of the meat. A curing method for pork that was documented in 1776 shows that wet curing must have been practised for many years before Clark’s description in 1804.
“After the meat has cooled, it is cut into 5 lb. pieces which are then rubbed well with fine salt. The pieces are then placed between boards a weight brought to bear upon the upper board so as to squeeze out the blood. Afterwards, the pieces are shaken to remove the surplus salt, [and] packed rather tightly in a barrel, which when full is closed. A hole is then drilled into the upper end and brine allowed to fill the barrel at the top, the brine is made of 4 lb. of salt, 2 lb. of brown sugar, and 4 gallons of water with a touch of saltpetre. When no more brine can enter, the hole is closed. The method of preserving meat not only assures that it keeps longer but also gives it a rather good taste.” (Holland, 2003)
The account of Clark is intriguing and was the motivation for Michael and my water and salt experiments. If he left the pork for two weeks in the brine, he must have noticed that he took out heavier pieces of meat than he put in when the wet cure method was used. Wet curing was in wide use by the mid-1800s. John Yeats wrote in 1871 about salt and sugar curing of pork, “There are two methods of salting; in one the meat is packed in dry salt, in the other, it is immersed in brine.”
Not just curing by wet-cure in barrels, wet cure was applied to meat through a variety of injection methods. Yeats writes in 1871 that a certain “Professor Morgan, in Dublin, has recently proposed a method of preservation by injecting into the animal as soon as killed a fluid preparation, consisting, to every hundredweight of meat, of one gallon of brine, half a pound of saltpetre, two pounds of sugar, half an ounce of monophosphoric acid, and a small quantity of spice.” (Yeats, J, 1871: 225) The plan was widely tested at several factories in South America and by the Admiralty, who had reported that they had good results from the technique. (Yeats, 1871)
Edward Smith described another method of injection of brine that he witnessed in his book, Foods in 1873. He accounts for the events of a certain “Mr Morgan [who] devised an ingenious process by which the preserving material, composed of water, saltpetre, and salt, with or without flavouring matter, was distributed throughout the animal, and the tissue permeated and charged. His method was exemplified by him at a meeting of the Society of Arts, on April 13, 1854, when I [Edward] presided.” (Smith, 1873)
He then describes how an animal is killed in the usual way, the chest opened and a metal pipe connected to the arterial system. Brine was pumped through gravity feed throughout the animal. Approximately 6 gallons were flushed through the system. Pressure was created to ensure that it was flushed into the small capillaries. Smith reported overall good results from the process with a few exceptions. The brine mix that Mr Morgan suggested was 1 gallon of brine, ¼ to ½ lb. of sugar, ½ oz. of monophosphoric acid, a little spice and sauce to each cwt of meat. (Smith, 1873) An interesting note that we must return to later was the common use of monophosphoric acid, probably as an added preservative.
When the muscle is left in brine, the brine seeps into the meat. By the mid-1800s, the use of wet cute has evolved to include some form of injection. A process that would have further added the likelihood of water to have been retained in the muscle tissue.
Johann Fey has been working on a device in the early 1890s that create compressed air below meat in a curing solution in order to facilitate a more equal absorption of the brine in the meat. (3) (Patents. US474446)
The Salt Experiments
In order to see if we can figure out all the functions of salt in bacon, Michael and I did an experiment on the salt back at the Harris test kitchen. We selected three pork sides, all killed on the same day and from the same pork breed. All were the same size and prepared in the Wiltshire cut. In experiment 1 we diluted salt in the usual amount of water and injected meat with a mixture of salt. We omitted sugar and saltpetre. We rested it and cured it as per the usual method of a wet brine. We then dried and smoked it in a drying oven for 6 hours.
For experiment 2, we repeated the experiment without any salt. Instead of salt, we added the normal amount of water as was used in the salt brine that we injected in experiment 1. We also performed a 3rd experiment as our control where we use the regular amount of salt, water, and saltpetre. Still, we omitted sugar from the mix to allow us to focus on the effect of the salt. After every experiment, the meat was smoked and dried for the same time and at the same temperature. The starting weights were carefully noted before any injection was done, after injection but before smoking and drying and after smoking and drying. We were interested to see what the effect of salt is on the weight of the bacon after smoking and drying.
The results were fascinating! The effect of salt on bacteria, at least in the concentrations we use it are very limited. However, we found that there is a considerable difference between bacon where salt was added or not in terms of its weight after smoking and drying. The sides where salt was added is materially heavier than where only water was injected. Salt must in some way be responsible for keeping the moisture inside the meat.
When Minette and I get back to the Harris operation, I am planning to repeat the test, but focus my attention on sugar. I also intend using beet sugar in one trail and Calne sugar in another.
Water Holding Capacity
The issue of water holding capacity of curing brines slowly but surely started to come to the fore from the mid-1800s even though it has certainly been a consideration in the meat industry for many years despite the lack of documentary evidence. From Michael and my experiments, one thing was clear that salt increases the water holding capacity of meat. One of the professors from Bristol who consults for John Harris elucidated the mechanism behind our observation.
Remember that we have said that salt exists in water as sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) ions. We will see how the different ions have different functions in curing, starting with the aid to the water holding capacity of the meat. “It is the ions that are responsible for this preserving action. An ionic strength of 0.5 or more will cause myofibrils (4) to swell and disintegrate, depolymerizing myosin filaments (threads), and solubilize the myofibrillar protein.
A salt concentration of 2% or more in most meat formulations will achieve the necessary ionic strength. However, even at lower concentrations such as 0.5 – 1.0% as used for many moisture-enhanced fresh meats, the Cl-ion from salt will interact with meat proteins to increase the negative electrical charge on the proteins and increase the water-binding properties of the meat mixture.
This is an essential role of the chloride ions in meat systems because the interaction with meat protein that swells the protein structure is responsible for allowing the proteins to hold more of the weakly bound water within and between their structure. The increased retention of water by the protein structure in the presence of chloride ions has a major impact on cooking yields, juiciness, tenderness, and mouthfeel when the product is consumed.” (Tarte, 2009)
“The chloride ion is much more important than the sodium iron for achieving increased water binding by meat proteins.” (Tarte, 2009) This is important because it means that for the purpose of water binding, one could use other salts such as potassium chloride.
The next direct benefit of salt to the curing process is in the area of colour development. “This is because the chloride ion from salt (Cl-) has been reported to accelerate cured colour formation in cured meat by increasing the rate of nitric oxide formation from nitrite.” (Tarte, 2009)
In my previous letter, I have discussed the importance of the taste of the salt. It is the sodium ion that is responsible for the salty taste in salt. The sodium ion not only gives sodium chloride its salty taste, but it is also responsible for a heightened intensity of all others flavours. Despite extensive research, no alternative to sodium has been found.
It is important to note that other minerals and metals present in natural salt deposits alter the taste of salt slightly so that salt becomes the most important curing agent in pork. It is possible for the Woodys team to produce bacon, as unique as the Marula fruit to the great African land. In the bacon that we produce, we can capture the spirit of the Bushman and the winds that blow across the vast salt pans of Bechuanaland.
These inquiries have completely captured my imagination! In my wildest dreams, I would never have predicted that curing bacon is so beautifully complex with the most magnificent processes at work! I can not imagine being at any other place on earth than on a steamer with Minette, on our way back to Calne which has become the centre of my entire universe.
One of my highest privileges is introducing you to this amazing world through my letters! Send my regards to everyone!
Your Dad.
Further Reading
(c) eben van tonder
“Bacon & the art of living” in bookform
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Notes
(1) “It is now generally accepted that the water requirements of micro-organisms should be described in terms of the water activity (Aw) in the environment. The parameter is defined by the ratio of the water vapour pressure of food substrate to the vapour pressure to pure water at the same temperature: Aw = P/Po
Where P is the vapor pressure of the solution and Po is the vapor pressure of the solvent (usually water).
The concept is related to relative humidity in the following way: RH = 100 x Aw
Pure water has an Aw of 1.00;
A 22% NaCl solution (w/v) has an aw of 0.86;
A saturated NaCl has an Aw of 0.75
(Jay, JM, et al. 2005: 45)
Microbial growth in the range of water activity between 0.998 and 0.6 (Dworkin, M et al, 2006: 146)
What is the effect of other ingredients on Aw? So many great discoveries still ahead!
(2) In 1895, Emile van Emergem, professor of bacteriology at the University of Ghent, in Belgium, identified the microorganism causing sausage poisoning as Clostridium botulinum.
In 1897 there was a botulinum outbreak after a funeral dinner where smoked ham was served as the main course. Emile was called to find the cause.
For the bacon industry, this is an organism that should be tested for on a monthly basis by micro swabbing. Salted, smoked and vacuum-packed products can contain the organism if it has been improperly prepared. Forms of the organism exist that can resist heat treatment. (Emmeluth, D , 2010: 19)
(3) John patented his device in 1892.
(4) “A myofibril (also known as a muscle fibril) is a basic rod-like unit of a muscle.[1] Muscles are composed of tubular cells called myocytes, also known as muscle fibers, and these cells, in turn, contain many chains of myofibrils. They are created during embryo development in a process known as myogenesis.
Myofibrils are composed of long proteins such as actin, myosin, and titin, and other proteins that hold them together. These proteins are organized into thin filaments and thick filaments, which repeat along the length of the myofibril in sections called sarcomeres. Muscles contract by sliding the thin (actin) and thick (myosin) filaments along each other.
Actinomyosin motors are important in muscle contraction (relying in this case on “classical myosins”) as well as other processes like retraction of membrane blebs, filiopod retraction, and uropodium advancement (relying in this case on “nonclassical myosins”).”
(Wikipedia. Myofibril)
References
Baron S, et al., eds. (1996). “Clostridia: Sporeforming Anaerobic Bacilli”. Baron’s Medical Microbiology (4th ed.). Univ. of Texas Medical Branch.
Bitterman, M. 2010. Salted. Ten Speed Press.
BBC Staff (23 August 2011). “Impacts ‘more likely’ to have spread life from Earth”. BBC. Archived from the original on 24 August 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
Bud, R and Warner, DJ. 1998. Instruments of science. The science museum, London and the National Museum of American History.
Dworkin, M et al. 2006. The Prokaryotes: Vol. 1: Symbiotic Associations, Biotechnology, Applied Microbiology. Springer Science and Media, Inc.
Emmeluth, D . 2010. Botulism. Infobase Publishing.
Holland, LZ. 2003. Feasting and Fasting with Lewis & Clark: A Food and Social History of the early 1800’s. Old Yellowstone Publishing, Inc.
* Jay, JM, et al. 2005. Modern Food Microbiology. Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
Laszlo, P. 1998. Salt, Grain of Life. Columbia University Press.
Smith, Edwards. 1873. Foods. Henry S King and Co.
Stringer, R and Johnston, P. 2001. Chlorine and the environment, An Overview of the Chlorine Industry. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
*Sperelakis, N. 1995. Cell Physiology: Source Book. Academic Press
*Srivastava, S. 2003. Understanding Bacteria. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Tarte, R, et al. 2009. Ingredients in Meat products. Springer Science + Business Media, LLC.
Yeats, J. 1871. The technical history of commerce; or, Skilled labour applied to production. Cassell, Petter, and Galpin
Pictures
Figure 1: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Historic-Cape-Town-Pictures/172728429409395
Figure 2: Lauren and salt by Eben (2015)
Figure 3: Tristan and salt by Eben (2015)
Figure 4: Holland, LZ, 2003: 9
Figure 5: http://www.google.com/patents/US474446
Figure 6: Salt at the cape of Good Hope by Eben (2015)
Figure 7: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofibril
Side note:
Two very interesting aspects of this post.
1. The 1st picture was taken at the same place where the cover picture for this blog was taken. The one in 2012 or 2013 and the other in 1949. It was a complete coincidence that I included it. I did not realize where it was taken. I just liked the image when I found it and it related back to the Cape of Good Hope that in the story, I miss and where I currently live.
2. Is Mr Morgan that Edward Smith talks about in 1854 the same person that Yeats describes in 1871 as Professor Morgan, from Dublin, 17 years later? Probably. I am not sure if the methods described are exactly the same. Chances are that Mr. Morgan became Dr and Professor Morgan and that he refined his techniques.
The method of injection through the arterial system is one that is still practiced at select butcheries in Germany in 2014. There is even a butcher in Cape Town who still use this method.
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