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.

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The Fathers of Meat Curing

June 1959

Dear Tristan,

Amsterdam is one of the greatest cities on earth and for someone with your adventurous spirit, it is perfect. I remember that you had a small cannabis garden back home in Cape Town. This makes your move to Amsterdam all the more appropriate! You already know the culture.

Hashish, another name for cannabis, has been used since antiquity as an anesthetic. It was described in the “Arabian Nights” by the name bhang. Bhang was smoked like a cigarette or taken orally in tablet form. Some mix it with sugar and eat it like candy and still, I heard that some create a green liquid from it to serve as a drink. I love your passion for the natural world and your desire to make money! Follow your dream! 🙂

T-man, since you and your sister have been entreating me to complete my work on bacon, I decided to begin with a review of everybody that I found over the years who had an impact on unravelling the mystery of meat curing. Many of the men and women did this without even realising the value of their discoveries to the inquisitive bacon factory or production manager.

I will complete this work, but you and Lauren have to promise me that before you eventually publish my work, you will add the most recent discoveries to my letters in this section of the work. This way, it will remain current and useful to the curing professional or the layperson who wants to know bacon curing or those who are simply interested in a great story will know they have the latest version with all the facts available to us!

Nitric Oxide

A study of curing is a study in the interaction between nitrogen, oxygen with a meat protein, myoglobin, with an auxiliary role for blood proteins, haemoglobin. It is about oxygenation, protonation, and reduction. It has recently been discovered that there exists a close correlation between certain reactions in human physiology and meat curing – the exact same processes are involved which means that in the basic meat curing reaction, it so happens that we merely mimic a biological process in our bodies. I decided to begin my letters from the Union of South Africa by giving you an overview of some of the men and women who contributed to our understanding of the curing process and their important contributions.

In the letters following, I will circle back and go into some detail into the important discoveries which I touch on in this overview. There have been many important advances in our understanding of the curing reaction over the years since 1893 and they all begin with a far greater understanding of proteins on the one hand and nitrogen compounds and their role in curing on the other hand. We discovered, for example, that meat curing begins with a bacterial reduction of saltpetre (nitrate) to nitrite and then a chemical reduction of nitrite to Nitric Oxide (NO). It is the interaction of this molecule with protein that gives the meat its reddish/ pinkish colour and the important protein that it interacts with, in the muscle, turns out to be myoglobin.

Here I must caution you that early work was done by giving the interaction of nitric oxide with a protein found in blood, haemoblobin (Hemoglobin – American English; haemoglobin (British English).  This should not alarm you. Let me explain what I mean.

Haemoglobin and Myoglobin

One of the proteins in the blood cell is haemoglobin. It is a red protein that is responsible for transporting oxygen in our blood. Early researchers in meat curing did their trails on it. In recent years we discovered that the curing reaction is not so much the effect of curing agents on haemoglobin, as it is in reality, the reaction with a meat protein found in all muscles, myoglobin. The oxygen is passed from the haemoglobin in the blood to the myoglobin, located in the muscle. We can say it is the cell oxygen reservoir. When you work out and the blood oxygen delivery is not enough, it temporarily provides oxygen.

The reason for using haemoglobin was “mostly a matter of convenience” and “a matter of necessity since myoglobin was not isolated and purified until 1932 (Theorell, 1932).” “In spite of the differences between haemoglobin and myoglobin, Urbain and Jensen (1940) considered the properties of haemoglobin and its derivatives sufficiently like those of myoglobin to allow the use of haemoglobin in studies of meat pigments.” (Cole, Morton Sylvan, 1961: 2)

These are then some of the fathers of meat curing and processes that were elucidated by them. In the case of Da Vinci, he is one of many people who’s work provides a link back to our ancient past and the art of meat curing that is thousands of years old. Our art is built, in huge part, on the foundations the following people laid.

7000 BCE to 3000 BCE

Good evidence suggests that meat curing has been practiced with sodium or potassium nitrate at various locations around the world where it naturally appears as a salt. Four locations stand out. The Atacama Desert in Chile and Peru, the Tarim Basin in Western China, the Dead Sea, and Egypt. It is in the Tarim Basin, where I believe, it was first developed into the art that we recognise today with a level of sophistication in the application of saltpetre by the early Christian Era that has not been fully appreciated until recently (1987).

LEONARDO DA VINCI

Leonardo da Vince (1452–1519) described a method of preserving the cadavers for his own dissection and study. (Brenner, E.; 2014) The mixture he used consisted of turpentine, camphor (scent masking), oil of lavender (scent masking), vermilion (colouring agent), wine, rosin (a resin used as an adhesive), sodium nitrate, and potassium nitrate. In his mix, for preservation, he relied on sodium and potassium nitrate and turpentine. It is clear from these and other examples that the preserving power of nitrates was well known, well before modern-day scientific rigour would come to the same conclusions. The knowledge of the particular taste imparted, the colour formation and the preserving power of curing through nitrate, nitrite and nitric oxide has been harnessed for thousands of years.

GLAUBER, PRIESTLY, CAVENDISH, DAVEY

It is generally believed that nitric oxide, the chemical compound responsible for meat curing, was discovered by Joseph Priestly in 1772. This is not completely true. Before the time of Priestly, the production of nitric oxide was known through the reaction of nitric acid () with any one of a number of commonly available metals. Nitric acid was, for example, known in the 13th century Europe and was known as aqua fortis. A known way of making it was was to react sulphuric acid and potassium nitrate as was developed by Johann Glauber (1604 – 1670). It was observed that a gas was formed when nitric acid was poured over copper, iron, or silver by a number of natural philosophers including Johannes van Helmont (1579 – 1644), Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691) and Georg Stahl (1660 – 1734). The last two noticed that this gas forms brown fumes when it comes in contact with the atmosphere.

Priestly’s contribution was immense in terms of identifying NO as a distinct chemical entity, separate from other gasses or “airs.” Priestly made important discoveries related to NO and was able to characterise it, but it was the eccentric and brilliant Henry Cavendish (1778 – 1810) who showed that NO is a composition of nitrogen and oxygen. Humphrey Davey (1778 – 1829) showed the diatomic nature of the compound (Butler, A. R., Nicholson, R.; 2003).

CARL WILHELM SCHEELE

In 1777, the prolific Swedish chemist Scheele, working in the laboratory of his pharmacy in the market town of Köping, made the first pure nitrite. (Scheele CW. 1777) He heated potassium nitrate at red heat for half an hour and obtained what he recognised as a new “salt.” He realised that there was more than one “acid of niter.” He distinguished phlogisticated acid of niter or nitrous acid (HNO2), as it became known in the 1800s, from nitric acid (HNO3) as being a weaker volatile acid produced by the reduction of nitric acid. He also showed that niter, when strongly heated, lost oxygen, and left a salt that readily decomposed into a volatile acid when treated with acid. (http://nitrogen.atomistry.com/)

The two compounds (potassium nitrate and nitrite) were characterised by Péligot and the reaction established as 2KNO₃→2KNO₂+O₂. (Péligot E. 1841: 2: 58–68) (Butler, A. R., and Feelisch, M.) (Butler, A. R., and Feelisch, M.)

ANTOINE-LAURENT DE LAVOISIER

Antoine de Lavoisier (1743 – 1794), the father of modern chemistry did landmark work on nitric acid. In 1790 he coined the terms nitrate and nitrite. In his work on nitric acid, he noted that different oxidation states of nitrogen have been known for some time. The term niter was allocated to these compounds by Macquer and Beaumé, but Lavoisier changed this to nitrites and nitrates “as they are formed by nitric or by nitrous acid.” (Lavoisier, A; 1965: 217)

CARL REMIGIUS FRESENIUS

A private laboratory was founded in 1848 in Germany by C. R. Fresenius (his doctoral advisor was none other than Justus von Liebig). One of the first recorded tests of nitrite as a meat preservative took place at his laboratory. (Morton, I. D. and Lenges. J.,1992: 142)

JUSTINUS KERNER

Kerner in Germany makes the link between Saltpetre and food safety particularly in relation to the prevention of botulism. After studying many outbreaks of botulism, he identifies the omission of saltpetre from the curing brine as the common denominator in the various outbreaks. (1817, 1820, 1822) (Peter, F. M. (Editor), 1981.)

HÜNEFELD

Hünefeld in 1840 observed a crystalline substance in the blood of an earthworm thus discovering haemoglobin. “Reichert, von Kolliker, Leydig, Budge, Kunde, and many others noted that blood from various species yielded a similar crystalline substance. As early as 1852 Funke described the method of laking blood with water and then inducing crystal formation with alcohol and ether. Laking is defined as “the physical or chemical treatment of blood to abolish the structure of the red cells and thus form a homogeneous solution. Laking is an important preliminary step in the analysis of haemoglobin or enzymes present in red cells.” Although he prepared only small quantities of haemoglobin, the principle of this method has been widely used” for many years. (Ferry, R. M.; 1923)

HUMPHREY DAVY

Humphrey Davy (1778 – 1829) in 1812 (cited by Hermann, 1865) and Hoppe-Seyler (1864) was the first to note the action of nitric oxide upon haemoglobin. (Hoagland, R.; 1914: 213)

HERMANN

Hermann studied the properties of the compound formed in the reaction between haemoglobin and nitric oxide. He discovered the compound Nitric Oxide-Hemoglobin (NO-Hemoglobin) in 1865 and it was supposed that it existed only in a laboratory. Until the work of Haldane, the compound has not attracted much attention. (Haldane, J. 1901)

Hermann showed the spectrum of oxyhemoglobin and NO-hemoglobin. “The blood saturated with nitric oxide was found to be darker in colour than either arterial blood or that saturated with carbon monoxide.” (Hoagland, R.; 1914: 213)

T. LAUDER BRUNTON

In 1867, Brunton identifies nitrite as a treatment for angina, the first nitrovasodilator. His story is interesting and I quote a section edited by Hurst, J. W. from a 1989 article that appeared in Clinical Cardiology.

“Brunton learned of amyl nitrite from faculty members at Edinburgh who were interested in this substance that had been synthesised in 1844 by the French chemist Antoine Balard.” (Hurst, J. W.; 1989) Antoine-Jerome Balard achieved this when he passed nitrogen fumes through amyl-alcohol. An interesting liquid was formed. It had a pungent smell and when he inhaled it, it made him blush. He told a friend that he is a shameless character and nothing makes him blush. He speculated that the compound dilated the blood vessels and caused a drop in blood pressure. Bruton thought that anything that dilated the blood vessels of the skin may have the same effect on the heart. (Dormandy, 2006)

“London physician Benjamin Ward Richardson discussed possible medical uses of amyl nitrite at meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science between 1863 and 1865. Arthur Gamgee, a recent Edinburgh graduate, also studied the physiological effects of amyl nitrite and encouraged Brunton to continue these investigations when he discovered that inhalation of the substance reduced arterial tension as measured by the sphygmograph.” (Hurst, J. W.; 1989)

“While a house physician at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Brunton became impressed with the lack of effective treatment for angina pectoris. Although the popularity of therapeutic bleeding had declined by the late 1860s, it was still advocated for the treatment of angina by some authors. When Brunton bled patients with angina some of them seemed to improve. He explained, “As I believe the relief produced by the bleeding to be due to the diminution it occasioned in the arterial tension, it occurred to me that a substance which possesses the power of lessening it in such an eminent degree as nitrite of amyl would probably produce the same effect, and might be repeated as often as necessary without detriment to the patient’s health.” Brunton began to study the effects of amyl nitrite on patients in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. When it was administered to patients with chest pain thought to represent angina, the discomfort usually disappeared in less than a minute. This was accompanied by facial flushing – an outward sign of the effect of amyl nitrite on the vascular system. Brunton published his observations on the value of amyl nitrite in angina in Lancet in 1867. Amyl nitrite was rapidly accepted by practitioners as an effective agent for angina pectoris.” (Hurst, J. W.; 1989)

The reason for this inclusion is the fact that amyl nitrite, like alkyl nitrites, as discovered by Brunton, is a very effective vasodilator. How it achieves this is that alkyl nitrite is a source of nitric oxide, which signals for relaxation of the involuntary muscles. Some of the physical effects are a decrease in blood pressure, headache, flushing of the face, increased heart rate, dizziness, and relaxation of involuntary muscles.

It has been discovered that nitrites and nitric oxide perform this function in the human body as a normal course of physiology. The reduction step of nitrite to nitric oxide which is the final step in meat curing turns out to be an essential mechanism in the human body that makes life possible. The full effect of Brunton’s discovery and the link with NO formation would not be realised until 1987 (Salt – 7000 years of meat curing).

There is another interesting reason. A friend of mine, Gero Lütge, a 3rd generation German Master Butcher grew up in the German town of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony, Germany.

If anyone can tell you anything about meat, it is Gero and as someone who inherited his trade from his father and grandfather, he is a rich source of historical anecdotes, illustrations, and information! He tells the story of his grandfather, Otto Lütge, who used to buy nitrite for meat curing, from the pharmacy. That would have been somewhere between the years 1950 and 1970 before it actually was regulated by law.

He confirmed that it was indeed nitrite and not nitrate that his grandfather added. The colour was more intense and stable, but health issues were a big concern, in particular, cancer from which he himself passed away.

Butchers could have bought nitrate also from the pharmacy. Following Bruton’s application of amyl nitrite for chest pains, William Murrell experimented with glyceryl nitrate to treat angina pectoris and to reduce blood pressure. After Murrell published on it in 1879, it became widely available as a remedy. It was officially known as glyceryl trinitrate, but due to a longer curing time, butchers would have preferred nitrite and in all likelihood, if they bought it through pharmacies, it would have been amyl nitrite. Fascinatingly, this indicates that there is a possibility that amyl nitrite was used in meat curing.

ARTHUR GAMGEE

On 7 May 1868, Dr. Arthur Gamgee, who studied the physiological effects of amyl nitrite along with Brunton at the University of Edinburgh, brother of the famous veterinarian, Professor John Gamgee (who contributed to the attempt to find ways to preserve whole carcasses during a voyage between Australia and Britain), published a groundbreaking article entitled, “On the action of nitrites on the blood.” He observed the colour change brought about by nitrite. He wrote, “The addition of … nitrites to blood … causes the red colour to return…” Over the next 30 years, it would be discovered that it is indeed nitrites responsible for curing and not the nitrates added as saltpetre.

MEUSEL, GAYON, AND DUPETIT

The important reduction process of nitrate to nitrite was identified by E. Meusel (1875) who was the first to associate microorganisms with nitrogen losses. He noted that antiseptic-sensitive agents identified as mixed populations of bacteria in soil and natural waters reduced nitrates to nitrites and even further. (Meusel, E. 1875) Gayon and Dupetit coined the term denitrification in 1882. (Gayon, U., and G. Dupetit; 1883) It was this knowledge that was the basis of Polenske’s speculation about the source of nitrite in curing brine and cured meat. (See Saltpeter: A Concise History and the Discovery of Dr Ed Polenske)

POLENSKE

Dr. Ed Polenske (1849-1911), working for the Imperial Health Office in Germany, made the first discovery that would lead to a full understanding of the curing action. He prepared a brine to cure meat and used only salt and saltpetre (nitrates). When he tested it a week later, it tested positive for nitrites.

The question is where did the nitrites come from if he did not add it to the brine to begin with. He correctly speculated that this was due to nitrate being converted by microbial action into nitrite. He published in 1891. For a full discussion on this landmark article, see Saltpeter: A Concise History and the Discovery of Dr Ed Polenske

NOTHWANG

Following Dr. Polenski’s observation, the German scientist, Nothwang confirmed the presence of nitrite in curing brines in 1892 but attributed the reduction from nitrate to nitrite to the meat tissue itself. The link between nitrite and cured meat colour was finally established in 1899 by another German scientist, K. B. Lehmann in a simple but important experiment.

LEHMANN

Karl Bernhard Lehmann (1858 – 1940) was a German hygienist and bacteriologist born in Zurich.

In an experiment, he boiled fresh meat with nitrite and a little bit of acid. A red colour resulted, similar to the red of cured meat. He repeated the experiment with nitrates and no such reddening occurred, thus establishing the link between nitrite and the formation of a stable red meat colour in meat.

K. B. Lehmann made another important observation that must be noted when he found the colour to be soluble in alcohol and ether and to give a spectrum showing an absorption band just at the right of the D line, and a second band, often poorly defined, at the left of the E line. On standing, the colour of the solution changed to brown and gave the spectrum of alkaline hematin, the colouring group.

KIßKALT

In the same year, another German hygienist, one of Lehmann’s assistants at the Institute of Hygiene in Würzburg, Karl Kißkalt (1875 – 1962), confirmed Lehmann’s observations and showed that the same red colour resulted if the meat was left in saltpetre (potassium nitrate) for several days before it was cooked.

HALDANE

The brilliant British physiologist and philosopher, John Scott Haldane weighed in on the topic. He was born in 1860 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was part of a lineage of important and influential scientists. Haldane contributed immensely to the application of science across many fields of life. This formidable scientist was for example responsible for developing decompression tables for deep-sea diving used to this day.

“Haldane was an observer and an experimentalist, who always pointed out that careful observation and experiments had to be the basis of any theoretical analysis. “Why think when you can experiment” and “Exhaust experiments and then think.” (Lang, M. A., and Brubakk, A. O. 2009. The Haldane Effect)

S. J. Haldane applied the same rigour to cured meat and became the first person to demonstrate that the addition of nitrite to haemoglobin produce a nitric oxide (NO)-heme bond, called iron-nitrosyl-hemoglobin (HbFeIINO). He showed that nitrite is further reduced to nitric oxide (NO) in the presence of muscle myoglobin and forms iron-nitrosyl-myoglobin. It is nitrosylated myoglobin that gives cured meat, including bacon and hot dogs, their distinctive red colour and protects the meat from oxidation and spoiling. This is how he discovered it. Remember the observation made by K. B. Lehmann that the colour of fresh meat cooked in water with nitrites and free acid to give a spectrum showing an absorption band just at the right of the D line, and a second band, often poorly defined, at the left of the E line.

Haldane found the same colour to be present in cured meat. That it is soluble in water and giving a spectrum characteristic of NO-hemoglobin. The formation of the red colour in uncooked salted meats is explained by the action of nitrites in the presence of a reducing agent and in the absence of oxygen upon haemoglobin, the normal colouring matter of fresh meats. He showed that the redox reaction occurs in meat during curing (1901).

Haldane finally showed the formation of nitrosylhemochromogen from nitrosylhemoglobin (nitrite added to haemoglobin) when thermal processing has been applied and identified this as the pigment responsible for the cooked cured meat colour. He attributed this formation to NO-hemoglobin denaturing into two parts namely hemin (the colouring group) and the denatured protein (1901).

HOAGLAND

Ralph Hoagland was the Senior Biochemist, Biochemie Division, Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture in Chicago. Prior to this appointment, Hoagland was the department head of the Minnesota College of Agriculture (part of the University of Minnesota), appointed in 1909. Presently, the College of Agriculture is the College of Biological Sciences. (http://cbs.umn.edu/ and The Bismarck Tribune; 1912)

In 1908 he published results obtained upon studying the action of saltpetre upon the colour of meat and “found that the value of this agent in the curing of meats depends upon its reduction to nitrites and nitric oxide, with the consequent production of NO-hemoglobin, to which compound the red colour of salted meats is due.” He found that “saltpetre, as such, [had] no value as a flesh-colour preservative.” (Hoagland, R. 1914.)

The results of his 1914 publication are summarised by himself as follows:

a. The colour of uncooked salted meats cured with potassium nitrate, or saltpetre, is generally due, in large part at least, to the presence of NO-hemoglobin, although the colour of certain kinds of such meats may be due in part or in whole to NO-hemochromogen. (Hoagland, R. 1914.)

b. The NO-hemoglobin is produced by the action of the nitric oxide resulting from the reduction of the saltpetre used in salting upon the haemoglobin of the meat. (Hoagland, R. 1914.)

c. The colour of cooked salted meats cured with saltpetre is due to the presence of NO-hemochromogen resulting from the reduction of the colour of the raw salted meat on cooking. (Hoagland, R. 1914.)

BARCROFT AND MULLER

They did not discover the link between nitrite and methaemoglobin, but they were the first to venture an opinion in 1911 on the quantitative relationship that exists between nitrite added and the formation of methaemoglobin. (reported by Greenberg, L. A. et al.; 1943) This is a form of haemoglobin where the iron in the heme group is in the ferrous () state and not in the ferric () state. In this state, it can not bind oxygen and in the body, an enzymic action is required to convert it back to haemoglobin.

The reason why haemoglobin turns brown is that nitrite is a very strong heme oxidant. It is the same reason why meat (in particular comminuted meat) that has been injected or tumbled with nitrite also turns brown. This capacity of nitrite increases as the pH decreases. Nitrite itself may be partially oxidised to nitrate during the process of curing and during storage. (Pegg and Shahodi, 2000)

LADISLAV NACHMÜLLNER

In 1915, at age 19, Ladislav Nachmüllner invents Praganda, the first legal commercial curing brine containing sodium nitrite in the city of Prague. He says that he discovered the power of sodium nitrite through “modern-day professional and scientific investigation.” He probably actively sought an application of the work of Haldane. He quotes the exact discovery that Haldane was credited for in 1901 that nitrite interacts with the meat’s “haemoglobin, which is changing to red nitro-oxy-haemoglobin.” (The Naming of Prague Salt)

MITCHELL AND COLLABORATORS

In February 1916, H. H. Mitchell, H. A. Shonle and H. H. Grindley from the Department of Animal Husbandry at the University of Illinois, Urbana, published “The Origin of the Nitrates in the Urine,” showing that mammals produce nitrate.

LEWIS AND MORAN

In 1928, these researchers suggested that nitrite had antimicrobial efficacy. This was later confirmed by others. (example Evans and Tanner, 1934; Tarr, 1941, 1942, 1944). This becomes one of the great examples of the discovery and continued re-discovery of the same fact by successive civilisations. Beginning with Lewis and Morgan, the antimicrobial efficacy of nitrite was now being subjected to a modern scientific scrutiny despite thousands of years of evidence to the facts. (Peter, F. M. (Editor), 1981)

BROOKS

The reaction of nitrite through the formation of nitrous acid and “its reaction with deoxyhemoglobin to form nitric oxide (NO) and methemoglobin was more fully described by Brooks in 1937. (Gladwin, M. T., et al.; 2008)

DOYLE

The mechanism and unusual behaviour of the reaction of nitrite with deoxyhemoglobin and nitric oxide formation are further described by Doyle and colleagues in 1981.” (Gladwin, M. T., et al.; 2008)

STEINKE AND FOSTER

In 1951 they became the first to demonstrate conclusively the antimicrobial efficacy of nitrite in meat products when added at the levels in use today by commercial curing operations. (Peter, F. M. (Editor), 1981)

H. C. HORNSEY

In 1956 he demonstrated that the characteristic red pigment of cooked cured meat could be extracted completely by an 80% acetone-water mixture. This made the collection of data on the electronic absorbance and reflectance of the cooked cured meat pigment possible and provided an invaluable tool for future researchers. (Hornsey, 1956)

JOHN KENDREW AND MAX PERUTZ

“In 1958 and 1960 molecular biologist John Kendrew published “A Three-Dimensional Model of the Myoglobin Molecule Obtained by X-ray Analysis” (with G. Bodo, H. M. Dintzis, R. G. Parrish, H. Wyckoff,) Nature 181 (1958) 662-666, and “Structure of Myoglobin: A Three-Dimensional Fourier synthesis at 2 Å Resolution” (with R. E. Dickerson, B. E. Strandberg, R. G. Hart, D. R. Davies, D. C. Phillips, V. C. Shore). Nature 185 (1960) 422-27). These papers reported the first solution of the three-dimensional molecular structure of a protein, for which Kendrew received the 1962 Nobel Prize in chemistry, together with his friend and colleague Max Perutz, who solved the structure of the related and more complex protein, haemoglobin, two years after Kendrew’s achievement.” (www.historyofinformation.com) This becomes a crucial tool to progress our understanding of the interaction of nitrite and nitric oxide with the meat protein.

SALVADOR MONCADA AND LOUIS IGNARRO

A phenomenal discovery was made when nitric oxide was identified as a key signalling molecule in human physiology, showing that meat curing is a “natural process”. “Lining almost all blood vessels on the inside is a layer of cells known as the endothelium. A very important function of the endothelium was first reported in 1890 by Furchgott and Zawadzki. The presence of acetylcholine (a small biologically active molecule) in the bloodstream affects vasodilation and it was generally assumed that acetylcholine acted directly upon vascular muscle. However, this was found not to be the case. Furchgott and Zawadzki showed convincingly that that acetylcholine acted, not upon the muscle of the artery, but upon the endothelium and the endothelium produces a “second messenger” which then acts upon the muscles to effect relaxation. This second messenger was christened “the endothelium-derived relaxing factor” (EDRF).” (Cullen, C, Lo, V.; 2005)

During the 1980’s, an intense effort was effected to identify the EDRF. It was initially assumed that it would turn out to be a complex molecule like a hormone. This speculation enhanced the surprise when the chemical nature of the molecule was finally determined. It turned out to be a small diatomic molecule called Nitric Oxide (NO). “That it had a physiological role, in a process as important as vasodilation, came as a complete surprise.” (Cullen, C, Lo, V.; 2005)

“The discovery was made simultaneously by a group at the Wellcome Research Laboratories in Beckenham led by Professor Salvador Moncada and by a group in the USA led by Professor Louis Ignarro. The 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded for this discovery. Once nitric oxide had been detected in one physiological process it was found to have roles in many others, from inflammation to crying.” (Cullen, C, Lo, V.; 2005)

The debate on the safety of nitrites and nitrates in meat curing is not settled by these developments. What it does is to bring to bear much greater interest upon nitrite and nitric oxide and their role in human physiology, including the health risks associated with their intake. It is nevertheless an astounding fact that meat curing has, through the ages, kept so close to natural physiological processes.

On the Shoulders of Giants

These formidable scientists laid the scientific foundation for the full understanding of the mechanism behind curing. All questions have still not been answered, but we continue to build on their work. It shapes our understanding of the action of nitric oxide on blood and muscle protein. Meat curing is, in the end, a natural process that has been practised for thousands of years.

This is a remarkable fact, Tristan, which I can not over-emphasize. What we realise in meat curing is that it follows the most natural reactions in meat, so important that without those exact same reactions taking place in our bodies continually, life would not be possible! Early man discovered that the most perfect dish is one that is cured with a process that exactly mimics physiological processes in our bodies. How remarkable is that! The men listed above, each made a vital contribution to the discovery of the complete process and without these many lifetimes of scientific work, we would not have understood meat curing. Almost in parallel with these men, many countless butchers have done countless small experiments in the form of trials in their individual butcheries and contributed to the full scientific understanding by the diligent application of their trade!

There is a fundamental lesson here. We do not live in isolation. We stand on the shoulders of many diligent students of life and nature before us and we do well to go back to the origin of every important discovery. The most basic understanding of anything is fundamental to every subsequent discovery. This is true about bacon as well as the art of living.

It is June in Cape Town and the storms lash the Cape. It is impressive to see the power of the ocean. I enjoyed putting this list of men and their contributions together as it gave me a chance to review much of their work. This remains on of the most exciting projects I can dedicate my time to.

Lots of love from Cape Town,

Dad and Minette.

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Further Reading

The Fathers of Meat Curing

Concerning the direct addition of nitrite to curing brine

The Naming of Prague Salt

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(c) eben van tonder

“Bacon & the art of living” in book form
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Notes

References

Extracts from:

Concerning the direct addition of nitrite to curing brine

The Naming of Prague Salt

Additional information references:

The Bismarck Tribune (Bismarck, North Dakota); 10 July 1912; page 2.

Brenner, E.. 2014. Human body preservation – old and new techniques Erich Brenner. J. Anat.(2014) 224, pp316–344 doi: 10.1111/joa.12160

Butler, A. R., Nicholson, R.. 2003. Life, Death and Nitric Oxide. Royal Society of Chemistry.

Butler, A. R. and Feelisch, M. New Drugs and Technologies. Therapeutic Uses of Inorganic Nitrite and Nitrate From the Past to the Future. From: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/117/16/2151.full

Cole, Morton Sylvan, “Relation of sulfhydryl groups to the fading of cured meat ” (1961). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2402

Cullen, C, Lo, V.. 2005. Medieval Chinese Medicine: The Dunhuang Medical Manuscripts. Routledge Curzon.

Dormandy, T.. 2006. The Worst of Evils: The Fight Against Pain. Yale University Press.

Ferry, R. M.. 1923. STUDIES IN THE CHEMISTRY OF HEMOGLOBIN.
Department of Physical Chemistry, in the Laboratory of Physiology; Harvard Medical School, Boston
Gladwin, M. T., Grubina, R., Doyle, M. P.. 2008. The New Chemical Biology of Nitrite Reactions with Hemoglobin: R-State Catalysis, Oxidative Denitrosylation, and Nitrite Reductase/Anhydrase. Acc. Chem. Res., 2009, 42 (1), pp 157–167, DOI: 10.1021/ar800089j, Publication Date (Web): September 11, 2008, American Chemical Society

Greenberg, L. A. Lester, D., Haggard, H. W., 1943. THE REACTION OF HEMOGLOBIN WITH NITRITE, From the Laboratory of Applied Physiology, Yale University, New Haven, Received for publication, September 10, 1943.

Gayon, U., and G. Dupetit. 1883. La fermentation des nitrates. Mem. Sot. Sci. Phys. Nat. Bordeaux Ser. 2. 5:35-36.

Haldane, J. 1901. The Red Colour of Salted Meat.

Hoagland, R. 1914. Cloring matter of raw and cooked salted meats. Laboratory Inspector, Biochemie Division, Bureau of Animal Industry. Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. Ill, No. 3 Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Dec. 15, 1914.

Hornsey, H. C. “The Colour of Cooked Cured Pork. I. Estimation of the Nitric oxide-Haem Pigments”. J. Sci. Food Agric. 1956, 7, 534-540.

Hurst, J. W., 1989. M. D., T. Lauder Brunton, 1844- 19 16, w. B. FYE, M.D Cardiology Department, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA. Clin. Cardiol. 12, 675-676 (1989)

Lavoisier, A. 1965. Elements of Chemistry. Dover Publications, Inc. A republication of a 1790 publication

Mitchell, H. H.., Shonle, H. A., Grindley, H. S.. 1916. THE ORIGIN OF THE NITRATES IN THE URINE, From the Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Illinois, Urbana

Morton, I. D. and Lenges. J. 1992. Education and Training in Food Science: A Changing Scene. Ellis Hornwood Limited.

Meusel, E. 1875. De la putrefaction produite par les batteries, en presence des nitrates alcalins. C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. 81:533-534.

Peter, F. M. (Editor), 1981. The Health Effects of Nitrate, Nitrite, and N- Nitroso Compounds. Part 1. National Acadamy Press

Pegg, R. B. and Shahidi, F.. 2000. Nitrite curing of meat. Food & Nutrition Press, Inc.

Péligot E. 1841. Sur l’acide hypoazotique et sur l’acide azoteux. Ann Chim Phys.; 2: 58–68.

Scheele CW. 1777. Chemische Abhandlung von der Luft und dem Feuer. Upsala, Sweden: M. Swederus.

http://cbs.umn.edu/academics/departments/bmbb/about/history/timeline

http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=3015

Photo Credits:

L Da Vinci: https://www.codeavengers.com/c/gabrielj/leonardodavinci.html

Carl Scheele: http://www.explicatorium.com/biografias/carl-sheele.html

Justinus Kerner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinus_Kerner

C. R. Fresenius: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Remigius_Fresenius

Humphrey Davy: https://global.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Humphry-Davy-Baronet

Lehmann: http://www.kumc.edu/

J S Haldane: https://en.wikipedia.org

T. LAUDER BRUNTON: Hurst, J. W., 1989. M. D., T. Lauder Brunton, 1844- 19 16, w. B. FYE, M.D Cardiology Department, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA. Clin. Cardiol. 12, 675-676 (1989)

Hoagland. Popular Science. 1912.

Photo References

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.

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The Union Letters

Sea Point, Cape Town,
1959

The quest to understand Bacon and the Art of Living has by 1959 consumed 66 years of my time on earth. I lived through three major wars. The second Anglo Boer War was fought between 11 October 1899 and 31 May 1902 and the First and the Second World War which occurred respectively between 28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918 and 1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945.

When the sun sets over the Atlantic, Minette and I sit in our Seapoint apartment, watching it cast its deep orange cloak over our world. We play chess or cards on the balcony which has been turned into a sunroom when we enclosed it with glass a few years ago. We slowly sip on Gyn and remiss about the old days. In the morning we walk along the Sea Point promenade to stay active. We still regularly hike on Table Mountain but not as often as we should.  At night we stay home and enjoy each other’s company.

Tristan and Lauren

Tristan and Lauren have each gone their own way.  Tristan followed his own passion when he joined a travel firm based in Australia.  Lauren studies B Com. Tristan completed B Com which he did part-time. They both outgrew the difficulties associated with ones childhood and have their own amazing families to take care of.

Woody’s Bacon

Oscar and I grew Woodys into the largest supplier to retail in South Africa of own branded products for outlets like Pick ‘n Pay and Checkers producing 15 tonnes of the best bacon on earth every day.  We both decided its time to bid our baby farewell when Oom Koos and Duncan took the company over during the depression years and we both decided to follow other meat-related ambitions.

Letters from the Union – Therapy for an Old Man

The kids kept asking me for years to write down my memories from 1893 to 1959 and together with the letters I wrote them, Dawie Hyman, David de Villiers Graaff, and Oscar when I was abroad, learning the art of producing the best bacon on earth compile it into a book. After many years of dragging my feet, I finally decided to take them up on the request. The final idea came together at a time when both Tristan and Lauren were both living in Europe and New Zealand. This time it was not me on a quest around the world to unravel the secrets of bacon curing. It was the two kids travelling and I could write to them, not from Europe but now from home while they are living abroad. I find it difficult to make small talk on the telephone. Writing them about events following 1893 was the perfect structure I was looking for to build my letters around. So I picked the story up where I left off in 1893 when I wrote them my last letter about bacon from New Zealand. They were both pleased with the suggestion since it gives us regular contact and I fulfil their request for completing my work on bacon.

Imperial Cold Storage & Supply Co.

David de Villiers Graaff ultimately changed the name of Combrinck & Co. to the Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Co.  He made his fortune at least three times. The one time was when the city wanted to expand the railway station at the bottom of Adderly Street and needed to relocated Combrink & Co.. The location where they wanted to move the butchery business to as well as the money in compensation were both in dispute. After a process of arbitration, an astronomical amount of  £55 000 was awarded to them on 2 March 1895. David approached the high court to endorse the outcome of the arbitration process. The matter was heard on 9 March 1895 by the chief justice John Henry de Villiers and Justice Thomas Upington who found for Combrink & Co. and the  £55 000 was endorsed and made an order of the court.  This provided the initial financial basis for the development of their consumer goods empire.

The second instance was the outbreak of rinderpest, a dreaded disease afflicting cattle that annihilated an estimated 2,500,000 cattle and untold numbers of game across southern Africa. Its spread into South Africa started around 1895.  David’s answer was to import frozen meat from Australia and to distribute it to cold storage facilities to be erected throughout the region. In order to finance this elaborate scheme, early on in 1897, David and his one brother, Jacobus Graaff started thinking of floating a limited liabilities company. On 4 May 1899, the South African Supply & Cold Storage Co. Ltd. was registered with a nominal capital of £450 000.

It allowed David to erect cold storage facilities across Southern Africa and the chance to import vast quantities of meat into the Colony and later into the Union of South Africa. During the Anglo Boer War, the Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company won the tender to supply the British forces with meat. With the refrigerated railway cars that David saw in Chicago when he visited Philip Armour’s packing plant, he was the only firm that had the capacity to take on such an enterprise. Apart from this, the company became one of the largest meat processing companies in the world.  Our friend eventually sold his shares and the name of the company was changed to ICS during the Great Depression.

The company was in financial trouble by 1934 due to hardship that probably goes back to 1925.  Anglo-American corporation became its biggest shareholder with the total share capital of the company increased to GB£2.2 million (equivalent to £436,000,000 in 2010). The company worked closer and closer with Tiger Oats which was, back then, also a subsidiary of Anglo-American corporation.  (1)

Dawie Hyman

Dawie Hyman returned to America where he transitioned from working for the Community Chess in Los Angeles and the Twin Cities of St Paul and Minneapolis to establish his own company supplying solutions in the manipulation of data. After Minette and my visit to New Zealand, we never made it to America as our partners in Cape Town needed our urgent participation in setting up the bacon company and its processing plant. We did eventually make it to Los Angeles many years later, but the objective of the visit was related to further training in areas outside the narrow scope of bacon which consumed me for so many years.

Family

My mom and dad both passed away. My dad passed away after a motor accident on the way home from a vacation in Natal and my mom, after a long sickbed where she struggled with dementia. My brother, Elmar, became a lawyer and later turned his attention to real estate and the retirement industry. Juanita, his wife, kept working as an optometrist, raising Pieter Willem and Handre, their beautiful two boys. Andre, our older brother left the forestry business and entered the personal protection industry. Fanie and Luani, Minette’s brother-in-law and her twin sister, continue to live in Cape Town and their two kids, Liam and Luan went on to have successful careers in their own right.

Union of South Africa

South Africa became a Union in 1910 and there is talk right now that it will sever its ties with Brittain and form a fully independent Republic. I have my own mixed feelings about it and see the attitude of many white people as desiring nothing more than to have independence in order to secure a continuation of slavery just in another disguise. I remember how this happened with the institution of a system of indenture after slavery was abolished and the Transvaal Republic looked for ways to continue the diabolical practice. There were reports of slave markets, now in a new form, but effectively the same thing continues to exist in Southern Africa right up to the end of the 1800s. The English waged the First Anglo Boer war based on an assertion that this system was nothing less than slavery by another name.

I insert the opening paragraph of Louis Botha’s speech when we became a Union. It shows the deeply embedded racist undertones that existed even in the thinking of people even of the statue of General Louis Botha.

While the Black people got a raw deal, the Union gave unprecedented power to former foes of the British Empire, the Boers.

The achievement of the Boer nation was remarkable and this fact should never be underestimated. Here are two more extracts from the newspaper article quoted above, from the Manchester Guardian. It deals with the fact that a Union was a better option than a Federation and how this gave greater autonomy to the former Boer republics.  It highlights another remarkable fact of the Union of South Africa in the following clipping from the paper.

This unification of the Afrikaner and English South Africa became a focal point for both Botha and Smuts. The respect from the British that became the basis of their new approach to the Boer nation was built upon respect gained in the Anglo Boer war. In December 1889, in a piece I wrote from Johannesburg entitled, Seeds of War, I recount my meeting of a Boer called Daniel Jacobs.  One night at a dry riverbed outside Kimberly, he asked me if we could camp together for the night. He was travelling alone and our transport party provided him with the security in numbers for the night which lone travellers lack. He was on his way to Johannesburg on government business. I kept in contact with Daniel and after the Boer War, he shared the following fascinating account with me which illustrates my point.

He told me the story of one Gustav Baumann who was born on 21 November 1858 in Bloemfontein. His dad immigrated from Germany and was one of the first residents of  Bloemfontein. Gustav was a land surveyor in the Free State and later became Chief Surveyor General. His daughter published a book on her father’s memories after his passing, The Lost Republic: The Biography of a Land Surveyor by Gustav Baumann and Elfrieda Bright. He was a very compassionate person.

He matriculated from Grey College and even though his mother tongue was Afrikaans, he learned English while in school. During the War with England, he fought on the side of the Boers and was captured when Bloemfontain fell in English hands. Pres. Steyn, the president of the Boer Republic of the Free State instructed him to stay behind and to hand the Free State land title deeds to the English forces.

After the war, he met the Boer warrior and folk hero, General de Wet.  He told Daniel, (2) “Meeting old General de Wet after the war, I asked him why, after Bloemfontein and Pretoria had been captured and we knew we could never win the war, he still went on fighting: ‘Mr. Baumann,’ he said, ‘we kept on because we had to knock respect for our people into the British!’ This is exactly the point I am making about the basis for the English treatment of the Boer nations following the war. It was predicated on respect. His daughter later wrote about her father (2), “Gustav Baumann, who was an old friend of de Wet’s, and who had the greatest admiration for the old warrior…”

He also made another point of something that my great grandfather, JW Kok referred to which I wrote about in October 1960 where I celebrate The Castlemain Bacon Company from Australia as a producer of some of the finest bacon on earth. Here, he makes mention of the fact that some of the Boers who were captured early on in the war were accused of “ill-discipline.” 

Gustav Baumann recounts the following about the ill-discipline of the Boers early on in the campaign.  “The lack of discipline, especially in the early stages of the war, was appalling. My brother Herbert was a veld-kornet with the forces investing Kimberley. He was visited by a veld-kornet of the Transvaal Forces. While they were drinking coffee together, a messenger arrived from the Hoft-Commandant (Highest Commandant) for the Transvaler: Commandant Cronje wants to see you at once.” “And who the devil is Cronje to order me about?’ he demanded. ‘Tell him I’ll come when I am ready.’ He finished his coffee and left at his leisure.” He later writes that “…after three years of fighting the men still in the field had learned the art of war.”

Irrespective of the achievements of the Boer, the separation of races and the exploitation of black people and their exclusion from decisionmaking and government never stopped in South Africa but things went from bad to worse when the National Party came to power in 1924 for a short time and again in 1948 which lasted to 1994.  It was in 1948 when a new word was coined to describe the policies of the new government – “apartheid”.  I can see no positive outcome to the scheme and fail to understand how the white population can continue to think that a future is possible that is built upon the exploitation of our fellow human beings and excluding them from determining their own future.  On the other hand, the Boers got a deal, pretty close to what they were fighting for over many years.  South Africa remains a deeply divided land with great opportunities as was proven by David de Villiers Graaff, despite tremendous personal challenges and the diabolical system instituted by the National Government which kept the black man in bondage.

I believe that the unequal distribution of the resources of this great land will come home to haunt every people living here. The English will lose their “little England” and the Boers their “God-given independence” and little Holland with its straight and orderly lines, their language and their church. The peoples from whom they have taken so much by force and illegitimately will grow up to be united and strong enough to fight back. They will leave their care-free existence to forge peoples organised like the superpowers who lord it over them right now and will one day throw the joke off with no regard for Brittain or Holland or the ideal of “self-preservation to the exclusion of all others,” so well exemplified by the Afrikaner. They are training generations of people to hate with a burning fire!  Will they ever be able to withstand what is coming their way?

Bacon Curing and the first Union Cabinet.

It is remarkable that beacon curing and the meat trade featured very prominently in the first Union Cabinet.

Gen Louis Botha was the man who championed the course for the development of the meat industry in South Africa. He had a great ally in David de Villiers Graaff who created ICS which became Tiger Brands. FR Moor is 3rd from the left, back row, looking to his right. His younger brother, JW Moor was the chairman of the farmers cooperative that became Eskort. Botha opened the Eskort factory in Estcourt, Natal shortly before he passed away. The first curing system that Eskort used was the Wiltshire cure associated with Tank Curing.

Through the presence of Botha, De Villiers Graaff and Moor one can see the two South African cold meat giants, Enterprise and Eskort, the largest bacon producer in South Africa represented in the first cabinet.

Meat Curing Focus

My focus remained steadfastly on understanding the chemistry of meat curing to aim Woodys in the right direction. In recent years I became intensely interested in the development of meat curing and preservation in Africa during pre-colonial times. This is a project on its own to reduce to writing at a future time. When I am done with my work on bacon and the good Lord grants me health and a few more years, I will take this project up for there are amazing tales related to it that have never been told!

Bacon & the Art of Living

The letters that follow tell the rest of the story of Bacon & the Art of Living written from South Africa to my children who are living abroad.

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(c) eben van tonder

“Bacon & the art of living” in book form
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Notes

(1) In March 1982 Barlow bought a large interest in Tiger Oats and the controlling share in Imperial Cold Storage. In October 1998 Tiger Brands (Tiger Oats Limited) bought out Imperial Cold Storage.  It swallowed up ICS in its own portfolio of brands and subsidiaries.

(2)  The quotes and references all came from The Lost Republic The Biography of a Land Surveyor by Gustav Baumann and Elfrieda Bright which was brought to my attention and quoted by Daniel Jacobs.

References

Brooke Simons, Phillida (2000). Ice Cold in Africa: The History of Imperial Cold Storage & Supply Company Limited. Cape Town: Fernwood Press.

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.

---

Oake Woods & Co Ltd in New Zealand and Other Amazing Tales

June 1893

Dear Kids,

There is a Māori proverb that says, “A grey hair held between the finger and thumb is an infinitesimally trivial thing, yet it conveys to the mind of man the lesson of an everlasting truth.” Such is the wisdom of the Māori. They have their own unique set of proverbs; a strong and proud race with sophisticated laws and customs which rivals the modern cities of Europe in complexity and detail. These existed since long before there was any European contact.

New Zealand is an exceptional place to be with a beauty that is unimaginable. The developments from around the world of refrigeration and the production of bacon by the most modern ways reached these far shores of the earth. The three ways that I see this happening is in the quick development of refrigeration storage facilities at all major locations on the Islands, in the fact that I suspect C & T Harris to be looking to establishing curing works here and in the local pig breed, I found in the Island, very popular among the Māori people.

Cold Storage in New Zealand

The Dunedin works of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company is the first cold storage installation in operation on these shores. The Dunedin works are only a bit larger than those in Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Auckland, Timaru, Oamaru, and Invercargill. In total, there are 21 works on the two islands. The business was only started in 1882 in a small way and has since then increased tremendously. Currently, they are responsible for the export of a million carcasses of sheep and lambs per annum, with a total stock of about eighteen million.

The shipping companies could, in the early day of the trade, insist that a required quantity of sheep be supplied to their steamers. The freezing companies set up agreements with farmers on the back of the requirements from the steamers to take up the bulk of the space.

Since those early years, speculators stepped in, at least here on the Middle Island, who started buying the sheep from the farmers for cash which obviously suited the farmers better than having to wait for the steamers to take up their stock from the freezing facilities which only stored the goods. The shipping companies lost the constant supply from the farmers and the farmer is now shielded from the risk of competing with the English market. I heard from farmers that the bulk of the sheep sent from the Middle Island was sold in this way, especially in Christchurch and at the Bluff; and as for the farmers, they got their cash sooner and was able to negotiate good prices with the traders.

New Zealand has then, like Australia and South Africa became part of the New World, which is able to supply the old with its produce.

Oake Woods & Co Ltd in New Zealand ¹

As is the case around the world, pigs are a very useful dance partner of the dairy industry. Berkshire is the most popular breed on these islands. The large and small breeds of White Yorkshire are also bred, but they are not as popular as the black pigs. Many farmers don’t breed the pigs; they only rear and fatten them which has proved to be a very lucrative business. The New Zealand pigs are heartier than those from England and unlike the English pigs, they only need a good grass paddock, with an abundance of roots, a small quantity of unthreshed pea-haul for finishing them a few weeks before the killing, and of course, lots of water with good shelter from the sun during the warmest summer months.

Minette and I visited a few large pig farmers who farm close to Cheviot and Gore Bay. I was pleasantly surprised to meet an old friend from South Africa working on another large pig farm very close to Cheviot. We visited Brendon and his lovely wife, Belinda. Their children are a blessing, not only to them but to all who know the Buckland family. The amazingly gifted poet and artist, Rachel is the oldest, then the very unique and beautiful Ruth, Hanna who is spontaneous and joyful, 3rd; the super energetic and joyful Hezekai is 4th, followed by the completely unique and lovely Asher and finally, Anastasia who is still a baby – uniquely adorable. Of all the people I have met on earth, this amazing family perfectly exemplifies what we have been taught a Christian should be and we count the time spent with them as one of the biggest highlights of our trip. They don’t walk around preaching but their lives are worth imitating in every respect!

Bredon tells me that there is a very definite expectation among farmers that the trade of raising pigs will meet the demand of local meat curers and the trade is expected to increase rapidly. Brendon is the kind of man who keeps his word and I suspect that his source asked him not to divulge the name of the firm involved but he told me that one of the largest suppliers in the UK of mess pork to the navies of the world and the mercantile marine operations, sent an agent to New Zealand in order to investigate the viability of setting up a branch in the colony. The agent has been here for some time now, a couple of months at least, and is making inquiries as to the prospect of opening up a branch establishment. He ran a trial to test the quality of our pigs for their purposes. The trial was done by preparing some carcasses by a process patented by the firm. He then shipped these to his principals in England. He received a cablegram which stated that the meat and the curing were done to “perfection.” As a result of this, arrangements are being made for extensive trade throughout the colony. The English firm is prepared to erect factories at a cost of £20,000 each in areas where they have a reasonable expectation to secure 2,000 pigs per week. (The NZ Official Yearbook, 1893)

At first, I thought that this was the famous firm from Gillingham, Dorset, Oake Woods & Co. Ltd. Later I learned that it was the London based firm of Mr Aron Vecht, the Intermarine Supply Co. (The Journal of Agriculture and Industry, 1899)

We have seen that pork industries are very beneficial to dairy and brewery industries since it provides a way to dispose of low-value by-products such as whey protein, a by-product in cheese making and brewery waste which otherwise has to be discarded. Another reason why a healthy pork industry is a benefit to the farmer is that it provided an effective way to deal with inferior grain which may be converted into mutton and pork. It is not a good practice to pay freight on inferior samples of grain; it will pay far better to convert it into mutton and pork, which may be driven to market on four legs, instead of four wheels. The rule applying to our dairy produce—namely, that it should be of the finest quality—applied with equal force to grain intended for shipment.

The Kunekune

To my great surprise, we found a pig breed on the Islands, very popular amongst the Māori, that looks almost exactly like the Kolbroek breed of the Cape. Kunekune is a Māori word meaning “fat and round” and it perfectly describes this adorable and mild-tempered animal.

Let me first show you what I mean when I say that they look exactly like the Kolbroek.

-> Compare the Kune Kune photos, courtesy of the Empire Kunekune Pig Association of New York (https://www.ekpa.org/).

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-> Compare these with the Kolbroek, photos with the courtesy of Zenzele Farm in South Africa. (http://www.zenzelefarm.com/Kolbroek.html)

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I wonder if the Kolbroek which came to the Cape of Good Hope is, in essence, the same pigs (group or breed) that also arrived at the shores of New Zealand? How does it happen that these pig breeds look so strikingly similar? I wonder if I, as a foreigner and not a Kunekune, Kolbroek or pig breeding expert can venture a guess how it could have happened that these animals look so similar.

Form of the Kunekune Compared with Drawings from England

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Compare the form of the Kune Kune with the Berkshire and Large White’s.  The similarities are very interesting.

Uniting the Kolbroek, the Kunekune, the English East Indian Company, and China

We know that the Kunekune has Chinese genes. An obvious link between the Kunekune, the Kolbroek, and China from the 1700s is the English East Indian Company and possibly the English navy. The English East Indian Company is the most obvious organisation of that time who facilitated trade between England and China. It makes sense that they were responsible for populating England with Chinese pigs. It also stands to reason that it was an English East Indian ship that was responsible for ferrying the fletching nucleus of pigs of what would become the Kolbroek to Kogel Bay at Cape Hangklip where runaway slaves possibly took over the small herd which swam ashore off the sinking Colebrook and were responsible for initially preserving them.

If the Kunekune came to New Zealand around the same time and also from an English East Indian ship or from the English navy; if the New Zealand pigs were also taken on board from Gravesend as the evidence seems to suggest was the case with the Kolbroek pigs; if the pigs were not breed-pigs like the Berkshire or the Buckinghamshire but, as I suspect, village pigs from Kent; this will explain the Chinese connection and how these seemingly very close relatives made it to both South Africa and New Zealand. One would expect to find evidence in the genetic makeup of the breeds, both Chinese and European origins.

Considering the facts before us leads to this very intriguing and neat conclusion and would settle the matter of the origins of the Kolbroek based on the strong similarities between the Kolbroek and the Kunekune. It would preclude the possibility that the Kolbroek “evolved” through a complicated cross bearding of Chinese or Portuguese, Spanish or Dutch breeds with South African wild boars or even warthogs. Let’s delve into the facts.

China

I have written to you previously about the development of the English Pig when Minette and I met Michael in Liverpool while we stayed at the Royal Waterloo Hotel. I do not wish to repeat myself except to remind you that around eight thousand years ago, pigs in China made a transition from wind animals to the farm. They started living off scraps of food from human settlements. Humans penned them up and started feeding them which removed the evolutionary pressure they had as wild animals living in the forest. They were bred by humans instead of being left in the forests to breed naturally and to fend for themselves. This led to an animal that is round, pale, short-legged, pot-bellied with traditional regional breeding preferences that persist to this day. (White, 2011)

In contrast to the Chinese custom, in the West, the scavengers were treated differently. There is evidence that pigs were initially exploited in the Middle East around 9000 to 10 000 years ago. These denser settlements of the Neolithic times in the fertile crescent did not pen the animals up but ejected them from their society. The pigs may have been a nuisance or competed with humans for scarce resources such as water. Genetic research shows that the first pig exploitation in Anatolia (around modern-day Turkey) “hit a dead end.” (White, 2011) The pigs that were domesticated here all died out.

The pigs in Europe and England were kept in the wild for extended periods of time. Various European populations developed techniques of mast feeding (Mast being the fruit of forest trees and shrubs, such as acorns and other nuts). Herds were pushed into abandoned forests and feeding them on beechnuts and acorns that are of marginal value to humans. (White, 2011)

The practice of pannage, as it is called, is the releasing of livestock-pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on fallen acorns, beech mast, chestnuts or other nuts. One of the requirements for a Chinese/ European pig breed to have survived either in South Africa or New Zealand as a distinct breed is that the pigs did not become part of the general pig population, dealt with according to European custom, but, instead, was kept according to Chinese traditions in pens. The “pressure” to keep them in pens instead of letting them run wild as was the custom at the Cape, I believe was that the pigs were received by runaway slaves who knew pig husbandry and kept the pigs penned up as they did with other domesticated animals on their hideouts as a way to keep them “close” and out of sight of the general farm population for fear of being detected by authorities and the slaves be re-captured. The question is if there existed similar pressure in New Zealand.

The most likely candidate to have taken the pigs from England to the Cape was the Colnebrook in 1778 and Captain Cook, who is known to have released pigs on islands he visited, is the most likely candidate to have ferried the ancestors of the Kunekune to New Zealand. The pigs that he released on the middle Island who was not penned up but roamed the forests became feral and their characteristics changed to revert back to the wild state. We know that crossbreeds between Chinese and European breeds appeared in England well before the 1778 sailing of the Colebrook for the Cape of Good Hope and the three visits of Cook to New Zealand, in 1769-70, 1773 and 1777.

Kunekune

We have already seen that the Kunekune and the Kolbroek can be one pig breed for all intent and purposes. What is there that we know about the genetics of the Kunekune? A paper was presented by Gongora, et al., at the 7th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, Montpellier, France, (2) entitled
Origins of the Kune Kune and Auckland Island Pigs in New Zealand.

They introduce their paper as follows, directly addressing the matters of interest to us. “Migrating Polynesians first introduced pigs from Asia to the Pacific islands (Diamond, 1997), but it is not clear whether they reached New Zealand. European sailors and settlers introduced pigs into New Zealand in the 18th and 19th centuries, many of which became feral, but few records were kept of these introductions (Clarke and Dzieciolowski, 1991a; 1991b). It is believed that the European settlers introduced contemporary domestic animals originating either directly or indirectly from Europe (Challies, 1976).” (Gongora, 2002) It is this last possibility that is of interest to us. If the DNA evidence supports this possibility, it opens up the link with the Kolbroek since both pigs have prominent Chinese in their DNA and both possibly originating from Europe.

One must be careful here since Cook got pigs from many parts of the world and others are known to also have sent pigs to New Zealand. The possibility, for example, that the Kunekune came from pigs that Captain Cook released on the South Island in 1773, obtained from Tonga and Tahiti, and, therefore, undoubtedly of Polynesian origin (Clarke and Dzieciolowski, 1991a) remains. (Gongora, 2002)

Gongora, and coworkers et al. (2002) reports that the “unequivocal Asian origin of the Kune Kune mitochondrial sequence is consistent with the pigs being taken from Asia to New Zealand by the Polynesian ancestors of present-day Maoris, but maybe better supported by the well documented introduction of Polynesian pigs into New Zealand by Captain Cook in 1773.” (Gongora, 2002) This is, of course, the most obvious conclusion.

However, the possibility of the introduction of this Asian mitochondrial sequence via a European breed, which acquired Asian mitochondria by introgression in the 18th century in Europe is as good a possibility as the aforementioned. (Gongora, 2002) Gongora says that “such introgression explains the clustering of the Large White and Berkshire sequences with Asian pigs” as can be seen from the graph below.

Nucleotide substitutions and gaps are found in 32 porcine mtDNA D-loop sequences. The Kune Kune clusters with Asian domestic pigs are most closely related to Chinese and Japanese breeds. The Auckland Island sequence clusters with domestic European breeds (Gongora, 2002). Auckland Island is situated south of New Zealand and it is thought that the pigs that were released there may have the same origin as the Kunekune.

“Analysis of additional Kune Kune sequences as well as more Polynesian sequences may help distinguish the first two possibilities from the third. Finding unambiguous Polynesian sequences may be difficult though, as Giuffra et al. (2000) found that a feral pig sequence from Cook Island in Polynesia clustered with European domestic pig sequences. Analyses of nuclear gene sequences in conjunction with mtDNA sequences will also help in discriminating between European and Asian origins as for the porcine GPIP gene in the study of Giuffra et al. (2000). Analysis of microsatellite marker allele frequencies using the standard ISAG/FAO marker set (Li et al., 2000) will also assist in deciphering the relationships of these populations of pigs and are already underway for the Auckland Island population and are planned for the Kune Kune pigs. Jointly these studies will illuminate the history of Pacific island pigs, their geographic origins and genetic diversity.” (Gongora, 2002)

They conclude by stating that “Kune Kune pigs have Asian mitochondrial DNA but at this stage we cannot distinguish between i) Polynesian introduction of Asian pigs, ii) European introduction of pigs from Asia/Polynesia or iii) introgression of Asian mtDNA into European pigs in Europe in 17th century and subsequent introduction of these “European” pigs into New Zealand.” (Gongora, 2002) The link with the Kolbroek may give a hint of what actually happened.

Links with Captain Cook

A cursory survey of Captain Cook and pigs confirm the fact that he released pigs on the islands. He did this at more than one time. The pigs could even have been from the Cape Of Good Hope. On this 3rd voyage to New Zealand in 1776, he was met by a ship in Cape Town who accompanied him to New Zealand. The ship was the Discovery, commanded by Charles Clerke. “The Discovery was the smallest of Cook’s ships and was manned by a crew of sixty-nine. The two ships were repaired and restocked with a large number of livestock and set off together for New Zealand [from Cape Town] ( December).” (http://www.captcook-ne.co.uk)

We also know that pigs were sent to New Zealand from Australia. In 1793, Governor King of Norfolk Island gave 12 pigs to Tukitahua, one of two northern Māori chiefs who had been kidnapped and taken to Norfolk Island. By 1795 only one animal was left. King then established relations with the northern chief Te Pahi, and sent a total of 56 pigs in three ships in 1804 and 1805. It is probably from these, and from being gifted between tribes, that pigs became established in the North Island. From 1805 Māori were trading pigs to Europeans.” (https://teara.govt.nz)

Still, it is unlikely that the Kunekune came from animals that were merely “released” on the islands. These animals reverted to the feral state. I also suspect that, as was the case along the South African coast, pigs that were given as a gift or traded were probably consumed. There must have been a reason, planning, purpose and some instruction that accompanied the exchange of pigs into the hands of a leader who could command the breeding of the animals. Such an example exists, and as we will see later, it relates to the one voyage of Cook that started at Gravesend.

“Two pigs were gifted to Māori by de Surville at Doubtless Bay in 1769. During Cook’s second and third voyages, a number of boars and sows were released – most in Queen Charlotte Sound, but two breeding pairs were given to the Hawke’s Bay chief Tuanui.” Cook’s first visit to Hawked Bay was in 1769 sailing in the Endeavour as part of his first Pacific voyage (1768-1771). We know that he released pigs on the South Island. “Wild pigs, in the South Island at least, may have originated from Cook’s voyages, and are generally known as Captain Cookers.” (https://teara.govt.nz)

Below is a portrait of Tuanui (also known as Rangituanui), principal chief of Ngati Hikatoa. The drawing by W. Hodges. Engrav’d by Michel. Published Feb 1st, 1777 by Wm. Strahan New Street, Shoe Lane, and Thos. Cadell in the Strand, London. No.LV. 1777

Cook gave him breeding pigs, a very interesting fact. There are accounts from New Zealand where Māori’s tried to pen up wild animals with no success. A leader such as Tuanui is exactly the kind of exchange one would expect to develop into the Māori-pig or the Kunekune.

Oral Tradition

I have great respect for oral traditions. Over the years I have seen how tenacious phrases and stories are over time, persists. It seems to me that the shorter the phrase, the simpler it is to pass on and, oftentimes, the more revealing it is of an actual event. This is more or less my approach with the Kolbroek and I was eager to see just how entrenched the theory is that Captain Cook released, not just any pig, but pigs from England on the shores of New Zealand that could have been the start of the Kunekune.

Searching through old newspapers yielded the following. From The Age (Melbourn, Victoria, Australia) (3) it was reported that “when Captain Cook landed in New Zealand during one of his great voyages of discovery, he set free on the shore several pigs which had been brought all the way from England to provide fresh meat on the voyage.” The wild pigs of New Zealand are according to the author, also descendants of the pigs that Cook released here. The link with England is of particular interest.

The Courrier (Waterloo, Iowa), 7 April 1886 calls the Māori Pig, “a descendant of one of Captain Cooks Pigs it may be – a swine, black but not completely, ill-shaped and clumsy, but apparently a perfectly happy pig leading, as he does, the life of a free and independent gentlemen, as does his mater, the Maori landowner and rejoicing in the grubbing up of abundant and gratuitous fern roots.” There is no reference to the pigs being from England and the author mentions the link between the Māori pig and Captain Cook as a possibility, but there can be little doubt we are talking about Kunekune here.

Studying old drawings can assist us as it does in our study of the development of pig breeds.

The Gravesend Connection

The diary of events leading up to Cook’s first voyage gives us a connection with Gravesend.

Jul.	18	Mon.	Pilot arrives to take Endeavour to the Downs.
	21	Thu.	Sails from Deptford for Gallions Reach.
	30	Sat.	Sails from Gallions Reach to Gravesend.
	31	Sun.	Sails from Gravesend.
Aug.	3	Wed.	Endeavour in the Downs.
	7	Sun.	Cook joins Endeavour to commence Voyage.
	8	Mon.	Sails for Plymouth.

(from https://www.captaincooksociety.com)

Cook’s second and third voyage was undertaken, not from Gravesend, but another location in Kent, The Downs. This means that in 1768 Captain Cook took pigs on board the HMS Endeavour, and in 1778, a mere 9 years later, the East Indiaman, Colebrook, took pigs on board from the exact same location in Kent. Could these have been Chinese Pigs, crossed with the same large English breed, possibly from the same boar resulting in the Kolbroek and the Kunekune?

Here is a possible reconstruction of events from my imagination. Village pigs at Gravesend in Kent, during the early 1700s, received a dominant pig boar that the villagers used to service their sows. This boar was probably owned by a wealthy local landowner. Beginning in the 1700s, Old English pig breeds were crossed with Chinese pigs, probably brought to English shores by the English East Indian Company. The navy used Gravesend to stock their ships with livestock, as did the English East Indian Company. Captain Cook took on board some of these pigs that managed to survive the journey without making it onto the sailers menu, all the way to New Zealand where they were given as a present to a powerful Maori chief who bred them. They later became the legendary Kunekune pigs.

It was the same kind of pigs that went aboard the East-Indiaman, the Colebrook, who sank off Cape Hangklip. Pigs from the sinking ship swam ashore at Kogel Bay, was taken in by runaway slaves (drosters) and became the legendary Kolbroek breed of the Cape of Good Hope.

The breeds, as they exist today, share so many similarities that if one would simply look at them, one would say it is the same breed. One feature of the Kunekune which I have never found on the Kolbroek is that some of them develop a “wattle” or “tassel,” a fleshy appendage hanging from the lower jaw near the neck. This trait is becoming rate, but some of them have it. A veterinarian once told me that this tassel links them very directly with pigs that were found along the silk road in China. Much more work remains. Evidence may prove reality to be far removed from my imagination, but look at what we learned!

The Harris Family of Cheviot

My theories about the origin of the Kunekune may or may not be accurate, but what is certain is that New Zealanders are “salt of the earth” kind of people. No wonder the Buckland family loves this place. It fascinates me that the largest employer in Cheviot is the Harris family has been instrumental in the establishment of the biggest bacon curing operation in New Zeland. I can find no obvious link between the Harris family in Cheviot and the Harris clan from Calne. We had the privilege to get to know Nick and his brother Bryan Harris from Cheviot. Bryan showed me the best way to kill a pig. I showed up unannounced at their abattoir one day. He told me he was insanely busy, but he has done exactly what I did by showing up unannounced at meat plants in many parts of the world to learn from them and he has never been refused a tour or an audience with the right people. Based on his own experience he paid it forward and spend an entire morning with me, despite his tough schedule, showing and teaching me. He introduced me to the work of an American lady who designs abattoirs in such a way as to ensure very little stress for the animal. His energy and love for his work are infectious. Nick, like Bryan, worked in their butchery in the town of Cheviot that was started by their dad while he qualified as a chartered accountant. As such he is uniquely gifted to teach me about accounting and the pork business. From Nick, I learned the basics of accounting applied to the pork industry and how one links what happens on the floor to the accounting records in the office. More than that, he is an excellent farmer with loads of top management experience. I wish I met these two brothers when I left school! They are an amazing wealth of information and reminds me of the Māori proverb I started the letter with which says that “a grey hair held between the finger and thumb is an infinitesimally trivial thing, yet it conveys to the mind of man the lesson of an everlasting truth.” Such is Nick and Bryan Harris!

The largest pork producer in England is C & T Harris. The largest bacon producer in New Zealand is closely connected to the Harris family and, as you will see later, the Harris family of Australia is responsible for a massive bacon curing operation in Castlemaine. The coincidence is staggering and the tale of the Harris family of Australia I leave for a future conversation! Whichever way you look at it, in the world, no other single surname has been as closely associated with bacon as Harris!

After Cheviot, we spend time with Stu and Simon who are senior managers at Hellers. Stu runs production and Simon manages the operation. They too are salt of the earth kind of men. It was Easter Friday when I showed up at the Heller factory for the first time and both Stu and Simon gave me an amazing welcome. Since then, they became good friends and confidants. People that I have the freedom to discuss our Cape Town plans and who always give clear and unbiased advice.

Minette and I fell in love with New Zealand as we have never experienced anywhere else in the world. The biggest reason is the people of this amazing land even though the land itself is of a beauty that is unrivaled. It was an honour to have married here and to forge a close connection with the people of this land. New Zealand has a unique place in the world community who have contained on its shores, the basic ingredients of bacon curing and living life to the fullest. We are stunned by the experience of the land and its people. I am excited about the prospect that one day you guys will visit these shores and have your own amazing experiences. I think we are building up a set of confidants around the world who will assist us to face any challenge that may be thrown our way at Woody’s.

Lots of love from Christchurch,

Dad and Minette.

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Further Reading

Chapter 03: Kolbroek where the story starts.

Read with Chapter 09.15 The English Pig where I deal with the source of pigs for Gravesend where live pigs were loaded onto ships.

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(c) eben van tonder

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Notes

(1) The source does not state that the firm from England that set up the New Zealand operation was Oake Woods & Co. Ltd.. Considered at face value, they are a very good contender. A patent was lodged on 3 September 1896 number 8750 by E. R. Down from Gillingham, Dorset, Eng. for cylinder or vessel for curing bacon and hams. (Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand) It seems likely that similar applications were filed around the world. The trials were done in 1893. It fits the timeframe very well. I discuss this in detail in William and William Harwood Oake.

(2) Publication date, August 19-23, 2002

(3) Publication date, 14 July 1939.

References

APPENDIX TO THE JOURNALS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF NEW ZEALAND . SESSION II . , 1897 . VOL . III .

Sinclair, J. (Ed). 1897.Pigs Breeds and Management. Vinton and Co, London

Harris, J. (Ed.). c 1870. Harris on the pig. Breeding, rearing, management, and improvement. New York, Orange Judd, and company.

The New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1893.

http://www.majstro.com/dictionaries/Afrikaans-English/Slams

https://teara.govt.nz/en/kai-pakeha-introduced-foods/page-1

https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/search/imagedetail.php?id=260

http://www.captcook-ne.co.uk/ccne/timeline/voyage3.htm

The Age (Melbourn, Victoria, Australia) of 14 July 1939, p 5.

Biology online. Retrieved 15 February 2013.

The Courrier (Waterloo, Iowa), 7 April 1886

Gongora, J., Garkavenko, O., Moran, C.. 2002. From the 7th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, August 19-23, 2002, Montpellier, France, Paper entitled
Origins of the Kune Kune and Auckland Island Pigs in New Zealand.

Green, G. L.. 1968. Full Many a Glorious Morning. Howard Timmins.

The Journal of Agriculture and Industry, Volume 3, 1899, By South Australia. Department of Agriculture, C. E. Bristow, Government Printers

King, C. M.., Gaukroger, D. J., Ritchie, N. A. (Editors), 2015. The Drama of Conservation, Springer.

Yu, G., Xiang, H., Wang, J., Zhao, X.. 08 March 2013, The phylogenetic status of typical Chinese native pigs: analyzed by Asian and European pig mitochondrial genome sequences. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology volume 4, Article number: 9 (2013).

White, S.. 2011. From Globalized Pig Breeds to Capitalist Pigs: A Study in Animal Cultures and Evolutionary History, Vol. 16, No. 1 (JANUARY 2011), pp. 94-120, Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23050648

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Photo References

https://www3.stats.govt.nz/New_Zealand_Official_Yearbooks/1893/NZOYB_1893.html

http://mfo.me.uk/wiki/index.php?title=C%26T_Harris_%28Calne%29_Ltd

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.

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The English Pig

February 1893

Dear Kids,

Travelling back from Dublin to Calne, Michael met us at the Royal Waterloo Hotel in Liverpool (1). It was great seeing him again and the first hour we recounted the events in South Africa around Minette and my engagement. He was out of town when we returned from Cape Town and John Harris received us at his house.

It was great seeing our old friend again. We grew very fond of his company and his obvious love for the subject is inspiring! We had much to tell him about our trip to Dublin, Dr Stamatis, the chance encounter with Stu and our lessons from the anatomy professor. After listening to our stories, Mike was disappointed that he could not accompany us to Dublin.

The Royal Hotel

The hotel where we stayed with Mike in Liverpool is an epic place in its own right. The area was originally called Crosby Seabank. Before 1815, the locals tell me that all there was out there were a few farms dotted along the coast and some fisherman villages pre 181.  Early in the 1800s, so the ever-informative Michael tells us, it gained a reputation amongst wealthy visitors for its beaches and clear water. This prompted the building of the Roya Hotel.

Construction started on Sunday 18 June 1815, the very day of the battle of Waterloo where the Duke of Wellington’s forces defeated Napoleon Boneparte. It effectively ended Napoleon’s rule as Emperor of France and marked the end of his Hundred Days return from exile.

The hotel was initially named the Crosby Seabank Hotel. On the first anniversary of the battle, it was renamed Royal Waterloo Hotel. The area grew in popularity and soon a railway line was laid and a station build and wealthy merchants and sea captains from Liverpool began to build homes there. Many of the street names given were associated with the battle and gradually the town became known as Waterloo.

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After Minette and I shared our stories, the topic of discourse changed to the English pig. Mike felt that I still did not appreciate the importance of breeding in producing good bacon. He explained to me that the pig industry mostly situated in the south of England and as is the case today, followed on the heels of the dairy and the brewery industry.  Dairy farmers found that milk contains 20% whey proteins and 80% casein. Whey is a byproduct of the cheese industry. When milk is coagulated during the process of cheese making, whey is the leftover product and contains everything that is soluble from milk after the pH is dropped to 4.6 during the coagulation process. It is an excellent and inexpensive feed for pigs. The other very cheap source of food for pigs is brewery waste and a third source is an inferior grain that turns wheat that the farmer can not expect to get a good price for into high priced pork protein. 

As Mike was about to start telling the story, I quickly excused myself to grab my notebook. At the top of a new page I wrote the headline: The story of the English pig! Back in Calne, I was so mesmerised by the topic that I did much further reading on the subject. In this mail, I then supplement the information from Mike with what I found in the reading room at the Harris factory. Here is the story!

The story of the English pig!

Chinese vs English Pigs

It begins in China, many, many years ago. Wild boars (Sus Scrofa) from Europe and Asia roamed the land from antiquity. Around eight thousand years ago, pigs in China made a transition from wild animals to the farm. It was the creation of the domesticated pig (Sus scrofa domesticus or only Sus domesticus). They started living off scraps of food from human settlements. Humans penned them up and fed them which removed the evolutionary pressure they had as wild animals living in the forest. They were bred by humans instead of being left in the forests to breed naturally and to find for themselves. This led to an animal that is round, pale, short-legged, pot-bellied with traditional regional breeding preferences that persist to this day. (White, 2011)

Yu, et al (2013), reports that there are 88 indigenous breeds of pigs in China today. They investigated the origin and evolution of Chinese pigs using complete mitochondrial genomic sequences (mtDNA) from Asian and European domestic pigs and wild boars. “Thirty primer pairs were designed to determine the mtDNA sequences of, Xiang pig, Large White, Lantang, Jinhua, and Pietrain.” (Yu, 2013)

This is a great place to start because it not only speaks directly to our topic of pigs in China and their relationship with those in the West, but it also introduces us to very important concepts when you are talking about pig breeds.

The first new concept is that of phylogenetics. “Phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms (e.g. species, or populations). These relationships are discovered through phylogenetic inference methods that evaluate observed heritable traits, such as DNA sequences or morphology under a model of evolution of these traits. The result of these analyses is a phylogeny (also known as a phylogenetic tree)—a diagrammatic hypothesis about the history of the evolutionary relationships of a group of organisms.” (Biology online. Retrieved 15 February 2013.) Yu and his coworkers investigated the phylogenetic status of Chinese native pigs “by comparing the mtDNA sequences of complete coding regions and D-loop regions respectively amongst Asian breeds, European breeds, and wild boars. The analyzed results by two cluster methods contributed to the same conclusion that all pigs were classified into two major groups, European clade and Asian clade.” (Yu, 2013)

A clade is “a grouping that includes a common ancestor and all the descendants (living and extinct) of that ancestor. Using a phylogeny, it is easy to tell if a group of lineages forms a clade. Imagine clipping a single branch off the phylogeny — all of the organisms on that pruned branch make up a clade.” (https://evolution.berkeley.edu)

It revealed that Chinese pigs were only recently diverged from each other and are distinctly different from European pigs. Berkshire was clustered with Asian pigs and Chinese pigs were involved in the development of Berkshire breeding. The Malaysian wild boar had distant genetic relationships with European and Asian pigs. Jinhua and Lanyu pigs had more nucleotide diversity with Chinese pigs although they all belonged to the Asian major clade. Chinese domestic pigs were clustered with wild boars in the Yangtze River region and South China.

In the West, the scavengers were treated differently than in China. There is evidence that they were initially exploited, as was the case in the far East, around 9000 to 10 000 years ago. The denser settlements of the Neolithic times in the fertile crescent did not pen the animals up but ejected them from their society. The pigs may have been a nuisance or competed with humans for scarce resources such as water. Genetic research shows that the first pig exploitation in Anatolia (around modern-day Turkey) “hit a dead end.” (White, 2011)  It failed to develop pig breeds that still exist today as was the case with pigs in China.

In contrast to pigs being shunned in the middle east and penned up and intensely farmed and manipulated through selective breeding as in China, the treatment of pigs in Europe was completely different which resulted in a particular set of characteristics. Various European populations, for example, developed techniques of feeding the pigs called mast feeding (Mast being the fruit of forest trees and shrubs, such as acorns and other nuts). Herds were pushed into abandoned forests to feed on beechnuts and acorns which are of marginal value to humans. (White, 2011)

The practice of pannage, as it is called, is the releasing of livestock-pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on fallen acorns, beech mast, chestnuts or other nuts. Historically, it was a right or privilege granted to local people on common land or in royal forests. Interestingly, it was the exact same technique practiced at the Cape at the time when the Colebrook sank and is one of the reasons why I doubt that the Kolbroek would have remained a homogenous pig breed if they were not taken in by a local farmer. The slave-hypothesis where the animals were kept in a confined space and fed by humans right from their arrival on African soil fits the scenario where slaves had to keep the animals under constant control in caves or at least, a small geographical area to avoid detection by the authorities who were looking to re-capture the slaves. The slaves did this, not only with pigs (which I assume) but also with other domesticated animals such as cattle (which we know for a fact).

The result of chasing animals into a forest to fend for themselves is that controlled breeding was very difficult, if not impossible. The pigs from the West remained long-legged, with ridges of bristles and residue tusks, keeping them fierce and agile like their wild ancestors as they continued to struggle against predators and the harshness of life in the wild. This correlates well with quotes I read from writers in South Africa (Green) who speaks about the fact that pigs that are chased into the wild to fend for themselves change back to the characteristics of their wild ancestors. He quotes a German, Richter, as reported by MacAdams that “pigs easily revert to wild state. . . and all over the world, there were droves living in forests and bush and raiding farms and plantations. They bred fast like guinea pigs, mastered the law of the wild and move silently about their destructive business. After years of this life, they lost their civilised look and developed large heads with long snouts and narrow, arched backs. They were far more alert than farm pigs and more ferocious. Richter declares that they were almost as intelligent as the great apes. They became hairier and regained the colour and shape of their wild ancestors with stripes on their sides.” (Green, 1968) Pliny said in Roman times that “a few generations can turn a thoroughly domesticated breed into a fierce feral animal.” (White, 2011)

As the contact of Europeans with China increased and the vigorous trade of previous centuries between these regions resumed, Chinese pig breeds and practices were both exported to Europe and England. The introduction of Chinese breeds into Europe and Brittain was precipitated by changes in population and deforestation which became precursors for globalization. By the early 1600s, sty rising was encouraged by a shortage in mast forests and some improved breeding followed, especially in southeastern England. The rapid expansion of London gave rise to an increased in pigs as urban scavengers. Brewery and dairy waste in this part of England became the first sources of concentrated fodder for pigs. Agriculture manuals started to appear that advocated using these to supplement mast or replacing it altogether as a quick and effective way of fattening pigs. In addition to these, potatoes from the Columbian Exchange became a lifeline for the family hog who lost access to pannage. (White, 2011)

New sty raised pigs from around cities like Leicestershire and Northamptonshire at the end of the 1600s and early 1700s, in conjunction with the rapid development of English agriculture, provided the first improved English breed, particularly around Leicestershire. These animals served the growing London market as well as the British navy for fresh and salted pork. These animals were rounder and fattened more quickly than the pigs from medieval times. (White, 2011)

Chinese breeding stock arrived in England in the midst of these developments. Studies of mitochondrial DNA suggest that the earliest exchange took place around 1700. Certainly not much earlier. “More detailed examination of European and Chinese haplotypes find two separate introductions, each from a different Chinese variety, the one ancestral to the large white and Berkshire and the other to the later Swedish Landrace, Duroc, and Welsh. All these share more genetic material than they do with traditional European pigs.”

“As early as the 1720s writers began to note the growing presence of a small black variety in England which appears to match contemporary descriptions of those Chinese and Southeast Asia pigs that had already excited the interest of travellers to the far East. The earliest definite statement that Chinese pigs had arrived in the West appears to come from the Swedish naturalist Osbeck writing in the 1750s, who compared them favourably with European scavenger varieties.” (White, 2011)

“It was the last years of the 1700s that provided the real breakthrough with the production of improved crossbreeds combining the larger frame of European pigs with the rounder body and faster weight gain of the Asian newcomers. By 1797 William Henry Hall’s New Encyclopedia notes how “the breed of pigs have been greatly improved, both in the harness of their nature and the goodness of their flesh, by the introduction of those commonly called Chinese, or Touquin.” (White, 2011)

The fourth edition Bylbeis’s General History of Quadrupeds in 1800 would expand its chapter on hogs to note how, “By a mixture of Chinese black swine with others of the large British breed, a kind has been produced that possesses many qualities superior to the original flock. They are very prolific, are sooner made fat than the larger kind, upon less provisions, and cut up, when killed, to more useful and convenient portions.” (White, 2011)

Implications of the Date for the Kolbroek Pigs

Marshall (1798) writes that when he visited Maidstone in 1790, some remains of the long white native breed of the Island were observable, in this part of it. The Berkshire, and the “Tun back,” — a variety of the Berkshire (which is not uncommon in Surrey), — were prevalent: also the Chinese; — with mixtures of the various sorts; but without any established breed, which the district could call it’s own.”

At this point I want to return to the story of the Kolbroek pigs of South Africa (Chapter 3: Kolbroek) The story that I heard and believe to be correct after much personal investigation is that the breed swam to shore at Cape Hangklip in the Cape Colony from the English East Indian ship, the Colbrooke when she sank on Tuesday, 24 August 1778. I believe that the pigs were picked up from at Gravesend in Kent from where she sailed from on 3 February 1778. I think that there is another possibility namely that another small herd of pigs, closely related to the pigs that became the Kolbroek in South Africa were similarly transported to New Zealand by Cook.

In our discussion, the development of these two groups of pigs which ended up in Africa and New Zealand could be from the cross between Chinese and English breeds at a time before the Colebrooke sailed for the Cape of Good Hope in 1778 and before the three visits of Cook to New Zealand, in 1769-70, 1773 and 1777.  The Marshall quote shows that both Chinese breeds and Chinese-English crosses were not only present in England, but in Kent in particular.  Marshall (1798) writes about the state of affairs regarding pork production in Maidstone, Kent, which is 25miles from Gravesend. This is the time of Cook’s first voyage (30 years after the sailing in 1768 on the HMS Endeavour) and the sailing of the Colebrook which, on the 3rd February sailed to Gravesend to load shot, copper, stores, gunpowder, wine, guns, corn, livestock, and military recruits. She set sail on the 8th March from the Downs in the company of three other vessels, the warship Asia, as well as the East Indiamen Gatton and the Royal Admiral, to call at Madeira for 43 pipes of wine. On the 26th of May, she sailed from Madeira for Bombay and China via the Cape of Good Hope where she sank, 3 months later.

Marshall observed at Maidstone, Kent,

a. various breeds; 
b. a few of the long white native breed of England.
c.  The Berkshire and a variety of the Berkshire called the "Turn back," common in Surrey, 
d. Chinese which he describes as "prevalent" and e. mixtures of the various sorts, also described as prevalent.

I have long suspected that the Kolbroek looks like an older version of the Berkshire!  Later, when I saw the Kune Kune of New Zealand, I thought the same as a possible link between the old Berkshire, the Kolbroek and the Kune Kune. If these pigs came from Gravesend, Kent, it could have been almost any of the various crosses that were found here, at this time.

This is the clearest statement we have on the state of pork production in Kent which is important in the considerations of how the Kune Kune could have arrived in New Zealand and the Kolbroek at the Cape of Good Hope.  More about that later.

Michael brought some sketches along to illustrate his point of the difference between the old English breeds from before the introduction of the Chinese breeds and the improved method of pig husbandry and the new English breeds.

The Old English Breed

Harris has a great sketch of an old English and old Irish pig.

All New Developments Takes Time to Settle In

Early breeders did not immediately find a market for the improved breeds which was done between old English sows with Chinese boars. From the offspring of these animals, the farmer will then select the ones with the character traits that are most desirable and the rest will become ham or bacon.

There were many common village pigs that were crossed with Chinese pigs. Wealthy landowners would buy the Chinese boar and “rent” him out to villagers on his property to fertilise their sows.  In this way, pigs from a village or a county developed similar characteristics.

The New English Breeds

-> Large White

Or Large Yorkshire Pig, as it used to be called.

-> Yorkshire Large, Middle, Small White

In the Harris reading room I came across an 1887 copy of the Agrarian History of Wales, where Messrs. Harris from Calne is quoted complaining that the pigs were often too fat for their purposes. There are references to Small Whites as “animated tubs of lard and Black Dorsets as roly-poly pigs. (Collins, 1887)

-> Suffolk

Also called Small Black, or Essex as it is called in the USA.

-> Berkshire

The most famous pig from England for years has been the Berkshire. It is said that businessmen drove the development of the Berkshire as opposed to lovers of pigs and pig breeds. Agents of wealthy businessmen in the US bought the animals based on their ability to do well at shows and not for any inherent functionally beneficial characteristics. The buyers were looking for pigs that are short, turned up snout, a heavy jowl, thick neck, wide shoulders, and a fat back.

The breed has formally existed from around 1780 and before this time, the animals were known to exist and have been bred in this region in England. The colour and markings of the Berkshire show close association with the wild boar.

A breeders association targeted a longer, straight back animal as opposed to the more arched backs of the original Berkshires. There is a great description by a man called Lawrence who, in 1790 gave the following account of the old Berkshire pigs. “It was long and crooked snouted, the muzzle turning upwards; the ears large, heavy and inclined to be pendulous; the body long and thick, but not deep; the legs short, the bone large, and the size very great.” (Richardson, 1857) This was not the best animal that the farmers wanted to breed by any means, but it was a marked improvement on the old English pigs that were described as “gaunt and rugged.” (Richardson, 1857) Developing the breed through cross-breeding with the Chinese and Siamese pigs resulted in an animal that Lawrence describes in 1790 as “already a great improvement from the old Berkshires“. He describes the 1790 animals as “lighter both in head and ear, shorter and more compactly formed, with less bone, and higher on the leg.” (Richardson, 1857) By 1875, Richards reports that “the breed has been since still further improved by judicious crossing; it still has long ears inclining forward, but erect, is deep in the body, with short legs, small bone, arrives early at maturity, and fattens easily and with remarkable rapidity.”

One of the men responsible for great developments of the breed in the mid-1800s was Richard Astley, Esq. of Oldstone Hall. Another important breeder of this time was an Irishmen, Mr. Sherrard. In crossing with the Berkshire, he used the Neapolitan pig or the improved Essex pig which is the same as the Neapolitan. This cross resulted in “a long body, a handsome head, a well-skinned animal which is a rapid grower”.

The Siamese and Chinese cross were important for the breed. The Chinese hog went by many different names. The Siam and the Chinese proper were two important variants of the Chinese hog in the 1700s and 1800s. The main difference between the two relates to colour. The Siamese is black and the Chinese, white. There were, however, great varieties, and one could get black Chinese and white Siamese hogs. Importantly, Chinese hogs are small. “The body is a near-perfect cylinder; the back slopes from the head, and is hollow, while the belly, on the other hand, is pendulous, and in a fat specimen almost touches the ground. The bone is small, the legs fine and short.” (Richardson, 1857) Both the Chinese and Siamese are good feeders and matures early. The Chinese are almost identical to the Portuguese and many people thought that the Portuguese breed of the 1800s is actually the Chinese proper.

Trow-Smith (1959) summarises the state of play well when he writes, that “by reason of the introduction of direct and indirect Chinese blood into British breeds very few of the swines of the late eighteenth century had any degree of stability in character. Those which were contemporarily notable have now ceased to exist or become of little importance, and the leading breeds of today were then barely distinguishable. . . The ubiquitous Berkshire, the first British breed of pig to achieve national fame, to win a national distribution, and to exercise a national influence. At the end of the eighteenth century, it was predominantly of a sandy red-spotted type, prick-eared, with no very marked dish of face, and renowned for its early maturity. In the following three decades the Berkshire seems to have been given its present appearance of a black pig with white extremities and dished face by the work of Lord Barrington, who probably had used Neapolitan blood in the improvement – or, at any rate, the alteration – of this breed. The sandy reddish colour still emerges occasionally in crosses from the modern Berkshire.” (Trow-Smith, 1959)

“After Barrington had to a large degree fixed the new mainly black type, the older red Berkshire continued to be found unimproved in the Midlands in considerable numbers and began to assume a Midland name and to be known as the Tamworth.” If one wants to know what the Berkshire looked like at the beginning of the early 19th century, look at the Tamworth of the 1950s. (Trow-Smith, 1959)

Tamworth

One of the oldest of the English pigs, extensively bred in Leicestershire, Staffordshire, and Northamptonshire and in some of the adjacent counties is the Tamworth. It is native to the midland counties where there are lots of oak tree forests. They were driven into the forests for autumn and early winter. When the forests were closed off and converted to arable land, farmers opted for a quieter pig variety and one that fattens more readily. (Sinclair, 1879)

The change was accomplished by crossing long-snouted, prick-eared sandy and grey with black spots pigs with pigs having a strong infusion of Neapolitan blood. Many also used the white pig. Bakewell did, through inbreeding and selection, accomplished in both breeds a more delicate disposition and an animal that is more easily fattened.  He termed the white Berkshire breed. (Sinclair, 1879)

The result of the mixture was a plum-pudding or the black, white and sandy pig. In certain districts of Staffordshire and adjoining counties, the breeders of these mahogany coloured pigs took considerable pain by selection to increase the feeding properties of their pigs without losing their distinctive colour. (Sinclair, 1879)

The pigs were not particularly quick feeders but they were prolific and when well fattened, furnished a splendid carcass of pork nicely intermixed with lean.  (Sinclair, 1879) They were later crossed with pigs that render them more suitable for bacon production.

English Purebreeds

The following pure breeds were acknowledged in England at this time.

• Berkshire
• Tamworth
• Small Black
• Yorkshire – divided into Large, Middle, Small White

(Sinclair, 1879)

Development of the New Engish Breeds

In Loudon’s Encyclopedia of Agriculture are a set of engravings that gives us a glimpse of what the transition would have been like. The first edition appeared in 1825.

Compare it with the following English Breeds.

Loudon refers to the Berkshire as a “small breed” which was probably the first character quality to achieve better fattening and maturing quality (i.e., reducing the size of the animal improves its ability to gain weight and mature).

The sow above shows the effect of crossing the Berkshire with a Chinese pig and better feeding. The effects of persistent improvements on these crossed animals can be seen from the two pictures below, figure 20 and 21 from Harris.

Compare these with the picture of the old English pigs given right at the top of the letter. Also compare it with this drawing of a Chinese Sow, given by Harris.

Boars of the improved Berkshire-Chinese cross, after the breed has been established were used to cross with the large old Berkshire sows. This was considered a less violent cross and was more beneficial than the direct use of pure Chinese pigs.

I wondered how one would approach it if you desire to create a certain look or particular qualities in a pig.  Which one would have the biggest influence on what? The boar or the sow?  the ever-informative Michael had the answer.

Selection of a Boar – a few pointers

The boar exercise the greatest influence on the “external points of the joint produce”, then does the sow.  In the question I asked above, one will then select the boar by looking at its outer characteristics in the first place.  What is the outward “look” that you desire in your animal?  The sow is said to influences the internal portions to a far greater degree.

Other good pointers to look for in a boar is its sexual organs.  These must be well developed is an indication of vigour.  The quality that you do not want in a boar is a vicious and bad temperament.  Also, select a boar that was part of a large litter.  A large boar should not be preferred to a small one as large boars seldom last long. (Sinclair, 18970)

Selecting a Sow – a few pointers

A few comments about a sow to give us an inkling of the different functions of a boar and sow in creating a particular pig.  The sow is responsible to furnish her offspring with the internal arrangements to enable the complete animal to readily convert its food so that the pig grows rapidly, fattens quickly and proves itself a profitable hog.

Some breeds produce what is sometimes called a big roomy sow.  They are “flat-sided; their loins are “weak”.  They are often admired by people who know nothing about breeding pigs.  These poor animals have difficulty getting up once they lie down.  An evenly-made compact sow with quarters long, wide and deep, and on short legs will rear far more pigs and at much less cost than will one of the large kind.

The important points to look for in an ideal sow, are the same as what is required in a boar.  Particularly, its temperament must be gentle. A well-formed udder is of the greatest importance and she should have no fewer than 12 teats.  15 is better!  They should be spaced evenly.

Possible Supply Points for the English Navy:  The Kolbroek and the Kune Kune Question

As for my own exposure to pig breeding, it is confined to the Kolbroek and later, the Kune Kune from New Zealand. I discussed the tradition about the origin of the breed in the Cape Colony with Michael who had had very interesting insights.  Large scale pig breeding or rearing has been associated with the dairy industry for many years. There is a report from 1830 which states that keeping pigs “especially valuable to those persons whose other occupations furnish a plentiful supply of food at a trifling expense; as the keepers of dairies, brewers, millers, etc., the very refuse of whose customary produce will serve to keep a considerable number of these useful animals.” (White, 1977)

One of the places where pig industries developed for exactly the reasons as mentioned, is Wiltshire. Daniel Defoe commented in his work, Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1720) on the huge volumes of bacon sent from Wiltshire to London.  He wrote, “this bacon is raised in such quantities here, by reason of the great dairies . . the hogs being fed with the vast quantity of whey, and skim’d milk, which so many farmers have to spare, and which must, otherwise, be thrown away.” (Defu, 1720)

I expressed interest in the state of pig farming from Kent, since, as I suppose, the pigs that made it onto the Colebrook at the end of the 1700s and swam ashore at Koge Bay at Cape Hangklip in the Cape Colony, came from Kent, there should be evidence of large pig farming in this county or did the pigs come from London.  Michael referred me to one author he managed to locate which possibly spoke to the issue, Pehr Kalm.  Pehr, also known as Peter Kalm, was a botanist, naturalist, and agricultural economist and an explorer.   He wrote in 1748 that “in Kent the farmers generally have no more pigs than they require for their own use so that they seldom come to sell any of them; but in and near London, the Distillers keep a great many, often from 200 to 600 head, which they feed with the lees, and anything that is over from the distillery; and after these animals have become fat enough, they are sold to the butcher at a great profit.” (Kitchen, 1940)

This being said, Henry Mayhew reports in his “The Morning Chronicle Survey of Labour and the Poor: The Metropolitan Districts, Volume 6”, (1981), with writing from 1849 and 1850, “A great many sheep and other cattle are slaughtered at outside places (outside London and the Smithfield market), such as Gravesend. They are bought at the farmers in the neighbourhood, or selected from droves on their way to London.” He later includes pigs in his calculations. This statement shows that livestock was bought from local farmers as opposed to receiving them from London.  It mitigates the theory that the pigs from Gravesend were bought from local farms as opposed to being driven from London.

A second fact lends tremendous credence to this theory. The many woodlands and forests in Kent would have been ideal for pig farming. There are reports from early 1800 that there were plenty of pigs in the Weald, located just a short distance from Gravesend. (remarks about Goudway) (Aslet, 2010)  (2) It, therefore, seems plausible that the pigs for the Navy and the English East Indian Company was produced from Kent and not from London. This will, therefore, include the pigs brought to South Africa on the Colebrook as well as the pigs that Captain Cook took with him to New Zealand on his first voyage. Both voyages started by taking livestock onboard at Gravesend in Kent.

The clearest statement about pork production in Kent comes to us from Marshall (1798) who writes about the state of affairs regarding pork production in Maidstone, Kent, which is 25miles from Gravesend.  This is the time of Cook’s first voyage (30 years later) and the sailing of the Colebrook. Here, he observed a. various breeds; b. a few of the long white native breed of England. c.  The Berkshire and a variety of the Berkshire called the ” Tun back,” common in Surrey, d. Chinese which he describes as “prevalent” and e. mixtures of the various sorts, also described as prevalent.

The evidence suggests that there were after all, not only pigs for private consumption in Kent which, one must remember, is a large county. The writing was done at a time when statistics and information on matters such as the pig population were not available and each writer’s impressions were limited to small geographical locations in Kent and could not possibly have been absolute, verified factual statements. Secondly, once one accepts the premise that there could have been, as some authors seem to imply, large herds of pigs in Kent from which live animals were supplied to the Navy and English East Indian Company. Barrel pork, we know, would have been bought from London, firms like C & T Harris or imported from one of the colonies or Ireland. We found no evidence of large curing and “pork salting” industry in Kent, at this time.

There is another important possibility that comes up. We have a statement that farmers in Kent had only enough pigs for their own consumption. We know that there were a lot of pigs in the woodlands and have a description from Marshall on the kind of pigs found in Kent and in Maidstone in particular which is very close to Gravesend. What theory would adequately take all these factors into account in a way that is honest and flows from the facts? I propose that Marshall gives us a clear statement that very close to Gravesend, all the genetic ingredients were present for the creation of the cross that would become the Kolbroek and the Kune Kune. We know that large landowners or brewers would have had large pig herds as was the case in Wiltshire. The statements of the large pig population in London and the fact that many labourers in Wiltshire kept pigs does not mean that there were no large pig farmers in Wiltshire. By inference, the same logic will be true in Kent. It is a possibility that pigs were not procured from small farmers but from a farmer or a landlord or a business that had a large herd of pigs and the genetic material available in Kent would have been reflected in such a herd. That this source supplied the live pigs to Gravesend and that this practice was maintained from the 1760s all the way through to the end of the 1700s. A single source for the Kune Kune and the Kolbroek, located close to Gravesend is a real possibility and will explain the similarities between these two breeds perfectly!

The question is now if there is a president for such large pig farmers around Gravesend. As it turns out, there is an example of such a large operation that emerges from the village of Maidstone that was associated with hop production.  According to a report from the late 1720s, submitted to the Treasury Board, one-third of the English hop acreage was situated in Kent. In the 1780s, George Bishop started production of his distillery business. He too learned the art from another country. He had a similar operation in Holland from where he learned the art of distilling Schiedam Genever (Dutch Gin). Genever has been distilled in the city of Schiedam for hundreds of years and is world-renowned to this day. Hasted reports that the operation was of such a scale that it accommodated seven hundred pigs, fed on the waste products. (Armstrong, 1995) This is exactly the size operation that one would expect to supply the navy and English East Indian Company with live pigs on a regular basis.

There is one more clue that can narrow our options down. Samuel Lewes (1831) wrote in his A Topographical Dictionary of England that “the Hogs of East Kent are of various sorts, the smaller of which are those that have been intermingled with the Chinese breed : many pigs are reared in this district, and having been fed on the corn stubbles for the butchers, are killed in the autumn for roasting pork. In the western part of the county are some of the large Berkshire breed. Many hogs are fed on acorns in the woods of the Weald, and fattened on corn in the winter.” Maidstone is in East Kent which means that it falls in the category of “Hogs of various sorts, the smaller of which are those that have been intermingled with the Chinese breed.” Of course, we know that this is not an absolute distinction and that George Bishop could have raised Berkshires, but the general description by Lewes fits the Kolbroek and Kune Kune profile nicely.

The Village Pig

The Village Pig

Despite the fact that there were clearly large pig farmers in Kent in the 1700s and 1800s, it is still noteworthy that the village pig was commonplace in England during these centuries. The pigs that were predominantly present in England, as was the case in Kent, was the village pig. The English lagged behind in large scale, industrial pig farming until early in the 1900s. Wage-dependence grew but before this time, the economy of self-sufficiency prevailed with rural households provided for most of their own needs. The pig was central to this state of affairs. William Marshall wrote in the 1790s “during the spring and summer months, every labourer, who has industry, frugality, and convenience sufficient, to keep a pig, is seen carrying home, in the evening, as he returns from his labour, a bundle of ‘Hog Weed’; – namely, the heracleum sphondylium, or crow parsnep; which is here well known to be a nutritive food of swine. Children, too, are sent out, to collect it, in by roads, and on hedge banks.” (Marshall, 1798)

The keeping of at least one or two pigs per household was commonplace in the 1700s and 1800s England. One thousand three hundred rural households were surveyed in 1837 to 1838 in Hertfordshire, Essex, and Norfolk and it was discovered that around 38% kept at least one pig. (Boys, 1805) For the most part, the cottagers did not breed their own pigs but bought the piglets and raised them. It is difficult to know exactly how many village pigs were in England at this time but estimates set the numbers at between half a million and a million cottage pigs in late Victorian England. (Salisbury, 1822)

How to feed these animals was another question. George Stuart wrote in the mid-1800s that “most people kept pigs, and made a practice of opening the pig-sties every morning and letting the occupants out into the village street for the day.  There can hardly have been any pretty front gardens. Pigs browsed on the grass that ew by the open drain.” (Kightly, 1984)

Most of the feed, however, came from the owner. One cottager from Hertfordshire describes it as follows. “The water in which food had been cooked, and also that in which plates and dishes had been washed, formed a very valuable asset for the pig keeper, and was accordingly put in a wooden vessel called ‘the pig tub’. . . Those cottagers that kept a pig or pigs had their own tub near the back door; others put their wash (so termed) into a common pig tub provided by a neighbouring pig keeper, who each night came around with yoke and pails to collect same.  At the killing, a portion of the liver or some part of the offal was given by the keeper to each of the cottage women who had contributed to the wash tub, as a recompense for the same.” (Grey, 1935)  I mention this because it speaks to how the animals were being kept, a practice that would have been brought to the Cape of Good Hope by the English settlers.

Feed was supplemented by various other food sources such as potatoes and even hop that was planted specifically for the pigs. There are many delightful accounts of the importance of the cottage pig to the social structure of England in the 1700s and 1800s. Visitors would inquire as to the health of the family pig in the same way they would about the health of the kids. Parents who wrote letters to kids would include comments on the welfare of the pigs in every letter.  It is fair to say that the pig took on a role in English life that became closet to that of a pet than a farm animal. After church, visitors would invariably stop and spend some time at the pigsty where they would scratch the animals back and talk to them before they would enter the house and greet the occupants. All this to say that the pig played a role in England far more important than simply a source of bacon and lard. A distinction started to emerge in my mind between commercial operations in pig husbandry and bacon production and small scale cottage pig raising and the production of home-cured hams, bacon, and sausages. The two disciplines are in reality far removed even though the same animal is the subject and the similar spices and salts are used in curing.  This distinction would stay with me. As far as my work is concerned, it focuses on large commercial operations and not on a small scale operation.

C & T Harris and their drive for Lean Pigs

When I was back at Harris, John told me that there is an unceasing attempt by all Wiltshire pig producers to produce lean pigs. This was driven by his firm’s preference to buy such animals. They have been offering a premium to farmers for medium-sized pigs. It is reported that the percentage of lean pigs sent to the Calne market in Wiltshire has almost doubled. (Yearbook of Agriculture, 1895)

Finally

Not all these facts were discussed in Liverpool, but Mike took us through most of it. Minette loved the discussion. By the time Michael was done, we had four dining room tables around us with photos and bits of scrap paper scattered across the phots and on two more tables where I laid out my notes. I suggested that Minette and Mike make their way to the bar area so long and get drinks while I sit for a few minutes to gather my thoughts and complete my notes.

I thought that by now I learned a lot about bacon, but the discussion this morning taught me that I have only begun.  The interconnectedness of it all stunned me. The pig is one of the easiest and most profitable ways to convert corn and maize into animal protein. The link between this fact and the need to feed an ever-increasing world population stunned me. Not only is the preservation of the meat of supreme importance, but the art of manipulating what nature has given us is the real start of the journey to the best bacon on earth!

I recalled a discussion with John Harris and how they breed bacon pigs with long loins and little fat for bacon as opposed to short, far pigs which they call lard-pigs for the production of hams and lard. The Kolbroek pigs that Oupa Eben farmed back in South Africa are clearly lard pigs and the Berkshire and the whites and blacks are being bred as bacon pigs.  It all fascinated me tremendously.

It made me realise that life must be lived like that – with ample interconnections we are able to engineer a grand tapestry! We can indeed fall in love with life and when our work and our passion are the same – it is the condiments to a complete life that is lived well in every area.  My Minette, bacon, the mountains, the different lands and customs and peoples of this bountiful earth all unite in my heart and soul it becomes the gift from an amazing universe we exist in. I smiled when I walked over to the bar area and thought to myself that bacon is truly connected to the art of living!

Lots of love from Liverpool!

Your Dad and Minette

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Further Reading

Also refer Chapter 10.02: C & T Harris in New Zealand and other amazing tales where I take up the similarities between the Kolbroek and the Kune Kune.

Chapter 03: Kolbroek where the story of the link with the pigs from Gravesend (Kent) is first proposed.

In Search of the Origins of the Kolbroek

Kolbroek – Chinese, New Zealand, and English Connections

The Old and the New Pig Breeds

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(c) eben van tonder

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Notes

(1) Oscar and I arrived at the Royal Waterloo Hotel on  18 March 2012.  Colin Turner from Dantech made the booking.

(2)  There is a popular hiking trail called the Wealdway which is from the Southern Coast to Gravesend, crossing the Weald.

 

References

Armstrong, A (Ed.).  1995. The Economy of Kent, 1640-1914. Boydell Press.

Aslet, C..  2010. Villages of Britain: The Five Hundred Villages that Made the Countryside.  Bloomsbury.

Boys, J..  1805. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Kent.  2nd edition.

Collins, E. J. T.. 1887. The Agrarian History of Wales, vol. 1; vol. 7. Cambridge University Press, 2000, p560.

DANIEL DEFOE Ultimate Collection: 50+ Adventure Classics, Pirate Tales & Historical Novels – Including Biographies, Historical Works, Travel Sketches, Poems & Essays (Illustrated), Robinson Crusoe, The History of the Pirates, Captain Singleton, Memoirs of a Cavalier, A Journal of the Plague Year, Moll Flanders, Roxana, The History of the Devil, The King of Pirates and many more. From Letter IV Containing a Description of the North Shore of the Counties of Cornwall, and Devon, and Some Parts of Somersetshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. 1761.  Also refer, A Tour Thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain: Divided Into Circuits Or Journies. Containing, I. A Description of the Principal Cities By a Gentleman.  December 31, 1760 

Grey, E..  1935. Cottage Life in a Hertfordshire Village.

Harris, J..  c 1870.  Harris on the pig. Breeding, rearing, management, and improvement.  New York, Orange Judd, and company

Kightly, C..  1984. Country Voices:  Life and Lore in Farm and Village.

Kitchen, F..  1940.  Brother to the Ox: The Autobiography of a Farm Labourer.

Lewis, S.. 1831. A Topographical Dictionary of England. S. Lewis & Co.

Marshall, W..  1798.  The Rural Economy of the Southern Countries (2 vol)

Mayhew, M..  1981. The Morning Chronicle Survey of Labour and the Poor, The Metropolitan Districts Volume 3. In the years 1849 and 1850, Henry Mayhew was the metropolitan correspondent of the Morning Chronicle in its national survey of labour and the poor. Only about a third of his Morning Chronicle material was included in his later and better known, publication, London Labour and the London Poor.  First published in 1981, this series of six volumes constitutes Henry Mayhew’s complete Morning Chronicle survey, in the sequence in which it was originally written in 1849 and 1850.

Salisbury, W..  1822.  The Cottager’s Agricultural Companion.

Sinclair, J. (ed).  1897.  Pigs Breeds and Management. Vinton and Co, London

Tunick MH (2008). “Whey Protein Production and Utilization.” (abstract). In Onwulata CI, Huth PJ (eds.). Whey processing, functionality and health benefits. Ames, Iowa: Blackwell Publishing; IFT Press. pp. 1–13.

White, G..  1977.  The Natural History of Selborne. Penguin. From letters in 1775.

Wilkinson, p. R..  1933.  Thesaurus of Traditional English Metaphors.

Yearbook of Agriculture, 1895; p 16.

A Maori Proverb from Maori lore, 1904, by Izett, James (https://archive.org/deta…/maoriloretraditi00izetuoft/page/n3)

Photos

Old photos from Liverpool

-Liverpool, history, Liverpool-history-l22-waterloo-royal-hotel-c1900
Find this Pin and
-Waterloo Station 1907;
-Waterloo beach scene, circa 1906;
-Picnic on Waterloo seafront on Easter Sunday – undated
– photos from our stay on 18 March 2012

From: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/…/photos-show-waterloo-thro…

Old Hotel photo from pinterest

Other photos, taken by Eben

Pig photos from

Pigs Breeds and Management
Edited by James Sinclair
Vinton and Co, London
1897

Harris on the pig. Breeding, rearing, management, and improvement
by Harris, Joseph
New York, Orange Judd, and company
c 1870

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.

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Dublin and the Injection of Meat

February 1893

Dear Kids,

When I wrote to you the last time Minette and I were on a steamboat on our way to London. From there we took the train to Calne. John Harris arranged the most amazing welcome at his house with many of the staff from C & T Harris in attendance.

It was a glorious affair. For dinner, they prepared a roast with the most delectable dessert. We shared our engagement stories and visited with our friends till very late into the night. We stayed over at the Harris’s that evening which was a first for us and very unusual for the English. They are private people and Minette and I both realised what great honour it was.

The next morning over breakfast John had something on his mind. He started reflecting on my very obvious love for history and meat curing. “I was wondering, Eben,” he began, “well, let me say it like this. . .” John is a man who likes to get his words precisely right. “After that one night when Sudan Bodington was over and we delved into the nature of sweet cured bacon, well, after we discovered the key role of stitch pumping in the development of sweet cured bacon, I was wondering if it will be possible to uncover who the first person is to have injected brine into meat with a needle. How did this development happen? Today it seems like the most natural thing on earth, but someone had to come up with the idea.” I was immediately fascinated.

John told me that while we were away he made enquiry into the matter in anticipation of our return. “I did not learn much more than we already know, but I was told that the place to start is the University of Dublin in Ireland.” Almost apologetically he suggested to Minette and me that as an engagement present, how would we like it if he arranges for us to travel to Ireland and visit some friends of his at the University. Of course, there will be a lot of time in the country and enjoying the very vibrant culture of the Irish, and “Eben and Minette”, he suggested, “I think the biggest present I can give you is this research assignment to spend some time at the university and see what you can uncover about this most fascinating question.”

John was absolutely spot on in identifying how we love to spend our free time. Back home we would select exactly such projects to investigate. We would travel to the area where the answer to the riddle most likely occur and keep digging till we learned what we set out to uncover. One such quest I already told you about was finding Drostersgat at Cape Hangklip where a community of runaway slaves hid out and which turned out to be non-other than Dappa se Gat where the Colebrook sank.

We immediately accepted the engagement gift from John Harris as a most excellent suggestion and the very next morning we departed for Dublin. In Dublin, we were welcomed by Dr Stamatis Papaikonomou (1) who turned out to have lived in Johannesburg of all places for a short time teaching optometry. He knows John Harris on account of Dr Stamatis taking care of a recurring eye infection that John suffers from. This is how they got to know each other and whenever John was in Dublin, he would visit with Dr Stamatis. He corresponded with him while we were in South Africa and Dr Stamatis agreed to show us the old medical faculty. He made some enquiry on his part and discovered that the person we actually have to speak to is a professor in physiology who has specific information for us about the matter of the needle injection of meat.

Meat Injection Started in Cadavers

Before our trip to Dublin, it never occurred to me that the practice of injecting liquid into a muscle using a syringe is a very “medical practice!” I was intrigued when I heard all the talk about the medical faculty, but of course, it is the easiest thing to figure out if one only thinks about it for a second – the origins of the practice must most certainly be the medical establishment!

We met the professor in anatomy in his classroom in the romantic and ancient medical faculty of the University of Dublin. We immediately bonded with Dr Stamatis and his intimate knowledge of Johannesburg meant that he and I unknowingly frequented many of the same coffee shops and hotel bars in Johannesburg. He ended up joining us whenever we visited the medical faculty which turned out to be almost every day for three days in a row.

The practice of injecting meat with brine started as a way to preserve cadavers. That preserving human corpses for medical studies was something that made complete sense to me. Many years ago, as a boy, I read how Von Hombult and Guthrie went from house to house after a particularly heavy thunderstorm buying up the copses of the deceased for their own medical studies. Before the age of refrigeration, preserving human remains to study the make-up of the human body would have received considerable attention.

Leonardo Da Vinci

The anatomy professor started his discussion by pointing to none other than Leonardo da Vince (1452–1519) who described a method of preserving the cadavers for his own dissection and study. (Brenner, E.; 2014) The preserving mixture he used consisted of turpentine, camphor (scent masking), oil of lavender (scent masking), vermilion (colouring agent), wine, rosin (a resin used as an adhesive), sodium nitrate, and potassium nitrate. In his mix, for preservation, he relied on sodium and potassium nitrate and turpentine. The link between meat preservation for sustenance and meat preservation for the study of anatomy is, as the link between meat injection and the medical establishment, one that is abundantly obvious if you just think about it for a minute, but not necessarily the first connection you make when you look at the different disciplines separately. So, one of the most fascinating discoveries started to unfold for me and Minette in Dublin! The man who took front and centre stage in the development and progressed the practice of injecting preserving fluids into dead animal muscles for the purpose of preservation was a man we already became familiar with, with the surname of Morgan.

Morgan’s Patent

It was a certain Mr Morgan, in England, who had a significant impact on popularising the technique of injecting a liquid brine into the meat in the first place. The motivation was to increase the rate of curing by getting the brine faster into the meat in order to reduce the time required for processing which became the basis of sweet cured bacon production.

In temperatures above 20 deg C, pork spoils in three days. By injecting a liquid brine into the meat at evenly spaced intervals, the brine diffuse quicker through the meat. Morgan’s interest was the preserving of meat generally but included meat preservation for long sea voyages before the advent of refrigeration and not the curing of meat by farmers.

We encountered Mr Morgan’s name for the first time in Denmark during the reading of Edward Smith’s book, Foods, (1873) which we discussed in great detail in the Østergaard household. Smith wrote that “Mr Morgan 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 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. He himself seemed unconvinced.

An article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald that mentions Dr Morgan and his arterial injection method. An important observation from the article is the date of 1870. By this date, he is referred to as “Dr Morgan”, cluing us in about the timeline of Morgan’s life.

A second observation is a drawback of the system. The article states that “salting is the most common and best-known process of preservation (of meat), the principal modern novelty being Dr Morgan’s plan of injecting the saline solution into the arterial system – the principal objection to which has been that the meat so treated has been over-salted.” (Sydney Morning Herald, 1 March 1870, p 4) 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, E, 1873: 36)

Seventeen years after Smith met Morgan at the Society of Arts meeting, in 1871, Yeats reported that a certain “Professor Morgan in Dublin, proposed a method of preservation by injecting into the animal as soon as it is killed, a fluid preparation, consisting, to every hundredweight of meat, of one gallon of brine, half a pound of saltpeter, 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, J, 1871: 225, 226) It was in all likelihood the same Morgan that Smith reports on who, by 1871, became a professor in Dublin. Notice, as a matter of interest that he used the same basic brine mix of salt, water, saltpetre, sugar, monophosphoric acid and spices. This, together with the similarity in surname makes it quite certain that Mr Morgan and Prof. Morgan are the same people. In itself, this is an example of perseverance! In 1854 his arterial injection was met with scepticism where Yeats reports in 1871 that the Admiralty viewed his improved method.

Was this Morgan’s Invention?

The concept of arterial injection was not new. By the time Morgan demonstrated it to the Society of Arts, on April 13, 1854, it may have been as old as 150 years, used for embalming corpses for the purpose of medical studies. This invention is credited by some to the Dutch physician, Frederik Ruysch (1638 – 1730). He injected a preservative chemical solution, liquor balsamicum, into the blood vessels, but his technique remained largely unknown for some time. (Bremmer, E.; 2014)

British scientists who used arterial injection and from whom Morgan could have learned the system were the Hunter brothers William (1718–1783) and John (1728–1793) and their nephew, Matthew Baillie (1761–1823). The injection was into the femoral arteries. They all injected different oils, mainly oil of turpentine, to which they added Venice turpentine, oil of chamomile, and oil of lavender. Vermillion was used as a dye to create a more life-like skin colour, but would also have added preservation to the final solution. (Bremmer, E.; 2014)

There is a reference from 1837, on an essay delivered on the operation of poisonous agents upon the living body by Mr John Morgan (1797 – 1847), F.L.S Surgeon to Guy’s Hospital. (1837; Works on Medicine) The same publication contains an article by Dr Baillie, M.D. on the morbid anatomy of some of the most important parts of the human body. John Morgan was undoubtedly well familiar with arterial injection. Not only due to the fact that he was a contemporary of Baillie, but he was also a demonstrator of anatomy at the private school near Guy’s Hospital. (livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/) The late 1830 article that is referenced means that it fits the timeline perfectly for a late 1830 or early 1840 technology transfer for the use of the same general technique of injecting preserving fluids into the meat of a pigs carcass which presumably became stitch pumping, a precursor for Morgans invention.

John Morgan is in all likelihood the father of Dr John Morgan (Circa 1863), who was professor of anatomy at the University of Dublin. A process of arterial injection is described that was used by Dr John Morgan from the University of Dublin. ” John Morgan, a professor of anatomy at the University of Dublin in Ireland, formally established two principles for producing the best embalming results: injection of the solution into the largest artery possible and use of pressure to push the solution through the blood vessels. He also was among the first to make use of a preinjection solution as well as a controlled drainage technique. Morgan’s method required that the body be opened so the heart was visible, then an 8-inch pipe was inserted into the left ventricle or aorta. The pipe was connected to yards of tubing ending in a fluid container hung above the corpse. The force of gravity acting on the liquid above the body would exert about 5 pounds of pressure, adequate to the purpose of permeating the body.” (Wohl, V.) This process described here is applied, not to the preservation of animal carcass, but for embalming a human body! It is, however, the exact same process that he demonstrated years earlier in London to Smith at the Society of the Arts meeting on 13 April related to carcass preservation.

From the process description, it is clear that we have identified Morgan, father of the arterial injection method in meat curing as Dr John Morgan, professor of anatomy at the University of Dublin, son of Dr John Morgan, Surgeon to Guy’s Hospital. The original inventor of the system was the Dutch physician, Frederik Ruysch and the application was embalming.

With all the information fresh in our memories and my ever-present notebook tucked under my arm, Dr Stamatis suggested that we go to a pub down the road for a drink.

Mr. Davis from Adelaide: The Australian Agent of Dr. Morgan

Dr Stamatis had fascinating information to share with us. Morgan, it turns out, sold his patent in Australia where it was being tested for preserving meat for the long voyage between Australia and England. Upon investigation, Dr Stamatis came across an 1866 article in the Launceston Examiner where it is reported that Mr Davis, from Adelaide, bought the patent from Dr Morgan. Mr Davis took up “premises at Town Marie, on the Bremer River, about six miles from Ipswich” and the operation of curing commenced.

The process is described as follows. Dr Morgan’s patent consists of emptying and washing out all, even the minutest blood vessels of an animal, while the carcass is still warm, and afterwards, filling the same with brine. “This is done in a very simple and expeditious manner, and the meat thus cured is very different indeed in flavour, consistency, and general appearance, from that which has undergone the old and more tedious process of salting.” (Launceston Examiner, Sat 17 Mar 1866, Page 2, Curing Meat By Dr Morgans’ Patent Process)

The journalist reports that he saw “five beasts killed and cured in about an hour at Mr Davis’s establishment. Having been despatched in an ordinary way, the animals are laid on their backs, sometimes before they are quite dead, and the flesh having been laid open with a knife on the breast bone, the bone is sawn in two, longitudinally, and forced open with an iron screw until the aperture assumes an oval shape, about twenty inches long by seven or eight wide.

The operator, who is Mr Davis’s manager, Mr Bennett (the only person, we believe, in the colony, besides the patentee, who is practically acquainted with the process) then commences his manipulations with the animal’s heart, to which he obtains access by means of the opening we have described. It isn’t impossible to see exactly what Mr Bennett is doing as his hands are inside the body of the beast and his face is close to the opening. It is understood, of course, that he is making an incision in the great artery of the heart, and fastening, in the hole thus made, the copper nozzle of a long gutta-percha tube (which descends from a bucket suspended from the ridge pole of the roof), containing the wash. Having secured this firmly in the aorta, trying it around the neck with twine so as to prevent any escape, he next makes another opening at a short distance from the first, and turning the stopcock at the end of the gutta-percha tube, the wash, which is a diluted brine, is forced by gravitation into the aorta, driving before it the blood which escapes from the other opening in a rushing stream, rising several feet into the air.

About a minute suffices to drive out all the blood, but the injection is continued some time longer, so as thoroughly to wash out the blood vessels until at last the wash comes away almost in a pure state. The beast is then rolled over so as to allow all the liquor to drain out, the carcass being afterwards restored to its previous position. When this has been done, the operator closes the aperture which he had made to enable the blood and wash to escape and having unscrewed the gutta-percha tube, screws on a second precisely similar to the first, but which is attached to the bottom of another bucket which contains the brine.

This brine is composed simply of salt, saltpetre, and sugar but Mr Davis proposes to add a little spice to the solution, as an experiment, to improve the flavour of the meat. The tube having been fixed, the tap is turned, and the brine is thus forced into the veins and arteries. In order to make quite sure that the liquor has thoroughly permeated every portion of the carcass, a small scratch is made near the end of the tail and a fountain of brine immediately jets out. A scratch on the thick leathery cuticle of the nose is attended with a similar result. (We may mention also that even the hides are thoroughly cured by the one process, and when taken off, the carcasses are immediately stacked. One of the animals, too, that we saw cured was a cow heavy in calf and when the young one was taken out, it was found to be thoroughly impregnated with the brine).

We have eaten the tongue of the beast cured in this manner, and nothing could have been nicer, or more thoroughly preserved; the beef, too, as we know by experience, will bear roasting – an operation which would not add to the succulent of ordinary salt meat. The blend vessels having been thoroughly filled with brine, the carcass is left to soak for half an hour or more. It is then strung up and dealt with in the ordinary manner; the pieces are thrown into brine for a short time, turned over from time to time, and thoroughly examined, and, being found perfectly sweet, are placed in casks ready for shipment.

Mr Davis has commenced operations at a very unfavourable period of the year, and the only premises which he has been able to obtain are not the most suitable for the purpose. He has had to dress meat with the thermometer at 104° in the curing shed, and it is therefore not surprising that, in one or two exceptional cases, his success should not have been quite perfect. The test to which the meat is subjected, however, is so thorough that there is not the smallest chance of its being shipped in an unsound state. Mr Davis lately shipped nearly a hundred casks (304lb each) to, Sydney, for transmission to England by the Orwell.

It was stated by a Brisbane contemporary that 2c per pound was expected to be reached in the London market. This is absurd; anything over 6d will pay Mr Davis well, and 9d or 10d is the outside contemplated. We shall be glad to hear that something like this has been obtained and that this new and valuable industry is, therefore, likely to be established as a permanent addition to the resources and wealth of this town and district.” (Launceston Examiner, Sat 17 Mar 1866, Page 2, Curing Meat by Dr Morgans Patent Process)

Benefits of Arterial Injection

A most interesting coincidence occurred. Minette, Dr Stamatis and I were still in the pub close to the University when a man, visiting from the country of New Zealand commented on our discussion. He first apologised for listening in on our conversation and introduced himself as Stuart Merrylees. It turns out that Stuart is also in the pork industry, managing production for the largest Bacon producer in New Zealand. He suggested that he “did some trials called pegging the jugular vein in and the jugular vein out. Once the liquid flows clear, peg the outgoing vein and stop the pump to the ingoing vein and tie it down. One should use about 30L of product to be successful.”

Unraveling its Chemistry

He mentioned that some butchers claim that this operation makes the meat more tender. I wondered what the benefits would be and why the meat will be more tender. A clue to understanding some of the chemistry at work is to remember that manipulation happens while the carcass is still hot. This changes the rules dramatically. Note the actual wording from the journalist, describing the Davis operation, “The animals are laid on their backs, sometimes before they are quite dead.” Why would this make the meat more tender? The one reason would be if there is an absence or resolution of shortening. This is most interesting as it deals with issues of meat that was brought about by the introduction of the chilling and freezing of meat, invented by Harris. Much of the present lessons, though, came to us from New Zealand, a country located very close to the south pole so that it gets cold enough there to resemble chilling conditions in Calne cold houses.

There are several techniques to prevent shortening, developed angst other, in New Zealand. My one Kiwi friend is a keen hunter and in a similar discussion as we had about the arterial injection, mentioned how he keeps a deer carcass at chilled temperature and ages it for a set time which he measures by the age-old method of pulling on the tail of the dead animal. If the tail comes loose, he knows it has been long enough. This turns out to be an ancient invention where conditioning and ageing are used to prevent cold shortening in New Zealand lamb. “This method calls for holding the carcass in a conditioning-ageing room until they have gone into rigour mortis. The temperature and time specifications were developed for the industry with the time-varying with the temperature, that is, longer times were required at lower temperatures. The conditioning and ageing will thus prevent cold shortening and the accompanying cold-induced toughness.” (Pearson, A. M.; 1989 : 415) This is however not what happens in arterial injection. It is nevertheless fascinating that the technique for preventing shortening in cold environments and arterial injection was discussed in sequence – both very typical for that part of the world.

Two factors would counteract the onset of shortening namely a higher pH and higher ATP levels. The table salt (NaCl), saltpetre (KNO2) and sugar added by Davis will not have any effect on the pH and will therefore not impact the meat toughness or tenderness. The monophosphoric acid in Morgan’s brine formulation may, however, have the effect of lowering the pH.

In general, the normal pH of the muscle in an animal when alive is 7.0. After rigour, the pH drops to around 5.5. “The increased acidity of post-mortem muscle results from the accumulation of lactic acid, which is formed as glycogen is degraded (anaerobic glycolysis) to produce ATP. Animals that are not handled optimally ante-mortem will likely have faster running muscle biochemistry and a more rapid decline in muscle pH. This change in pH during the conversion of muscle to meat is perhaps the most important event because it affects so many chemical, physical, and sensory traits of meat products.” What you want to prevent is rapidly dropping pH while the meat is still warm. Muscle pH is critically important because both the rate and extent of pH decline greatly affect meat properties. If the pH decline is rapid and reaches 5.5 to 5.8 while the muscle temperature is still high (more than 36 °C), the meat may become PSE. PSE refers to meat that became pale, soft and is characterised by exudate which I already mentioned to you in the context of the incorrect chilling of the carcass after slaughter.

Using the arterial system, and assuming the water is between 20 and 25 deg C, the fact that water is administered while blood is in the carcass should aid in a cooling down of the carcass, but not to levels that are too low. This should have a positive effect on meat quality. The general rule is therefore to cool the carcass as rapidly as possible after slaughter and if the meat will be worked in the warm state, this should be done immediately after slaughter so that the sides can be hung in the chiller to effect a quick temperature reduction.

Let us consider the relationship between the levels of ATP and rigour. Rigour does not occur until approximately one-half of the ATP is depleted. (Pearson, A. M.; 1989 : 410) The arterial injection of brine should have no impact on the formation or depletion rate of ATP. Dr Francois Melette, a good friend of mine from Stellenbosch in the Cape Colony, explains that ATP consumption is at this point only an anaerobic release of energy. The muscle “does not know” that the blood is being drained and it enters an anaerobic metabolism as if the animal is being chased. The anaerobic regeneration of ATP is very ineffective and the glucose molecules are rapidly converted to lactic acid which accumulates in the absence of blood flow. (Private communication with Dr Melette)

He doubts if the lactic acid that is now being washed through the system will have a material effect on the meat fibres and will in all likelihood have no tenderising effect. The benefit is, according to him, more likely in the rapid decline of pH which will have an impact on micro and extend shelf life. (Private communication with Dr. Melette)

The claim for softer meat remains one that is hard to defend scientifically if one considers it from the vantage point of the action of lactic acid. There is, however, a benefit with ample scientific data to back it up and may result in more tender meat. The answer probably lays in what happens before rigor sets in, before ATP is depleted and before major lactic acid formation. It has to do with the salting of a carcass, immediately after death.

Prerigour salting results in a marked increase in water holding capacity (WHC) of the meat. If nothing else, this system achieves prerigour salting. “Hot salting” yields higher water holding capacity (WHC) and superior fat-binding characteristics in sausages despite the fact that salt increases the rate of ATP breakdown. As we have seen, the more rapid ATP depletion as a result of the salt should induce shortening. The high WHC of hot salted meat is, however, due to the “inhibition of rigour mortis in the fibre fragments resulting due to the combined effect of high pH and salt concentration before the ATP becomes depleted.” Studies have shown that the higher the salt concentration, the higher the WHC, up to a salt concentration of around 1.8%, but higher concentrations seem to have no material improved effect on the emulsion stability. Prerigour salting of meat results in increased solubilisation of the myofibrillar protein, but presulting does not appear to irreversibly protect the protein against loss of solubility. Although prerigour salted meat suffers from loss of myofibrillar protein solubility to the same extent as postrigour salted meat, its high WHC remains unchanged. Salted prerigour meat also maintains a high WHC during freezing and thawing. (Pearson, A. M.; 1989 : 424)

It is then indirect, through the improved WHC of the meat, that the meat is more tender. In the days of Morgan and Davis, the concern was primarily the preservation of the carcass and the meat was probably not immediately worked further.

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One more note must be made about pH and micro-control. The fact that a complicated relationship between pH and micro exist has emerged over the past few years and tremendous work has been done showing that different bacteria are able to live across different ranges of the pH spectrum. It seems that the main benefit of the system, improving shelf life is then related to the decline in carcass temperature and the action of saltpetre and salt and the normal course of and benefits of curing. Temperature, pH, sodium chloride, sodium nitrite, phosphates, however, all work together in terms of the efficacy and mechanics of curing and in this relationship, a reduction of meat pH is beneficial, even though in terms of specific microorganisms, the benefit may be questioned.

Here in Dublin, we met amazing new friends. The old professor from the university shared his information with us. The amazing and insightful Dr Stamatis and our new friend from New Zealand. Stu extended an invitation for us to visit. He was very excited to introduce us to Simon O’Shea who is a keen hunter and who will tell us much about the treatment of meat while it is freezing cold. He works for Simon at the bacon plant in Christchurch.

Minette and I can report that we had the most amazing time in Dublin. It will forever be one of the greatest cities on earth! John Harris told me before we left that his company used injection with their dry-cured bacon from 1843 which directly relates to the invention of sweet cured bacon in the 1840s. Initially stitch pumping was used, but arterial injection as invented by Morgan became the way that Harris injected its meat!

Combining Injection and Dry-Curing

Some bacon curers use the dry-curing in conjunction with injection. In this case, the meat is injected with approximately 10% saturated brine solution and the injected meat is then treated the usual way in the application of dry-salt-cure. This was the method also used by Harris in the early days.

After it has been dry-cured, the meat is smoked at a temperature of not higher than 38 deg C (100 deg F) in order to prevent nitrate burn which presents itself as green spots that appear on the meat. Care should also be taken if these products are stored to prevent damage from insects such as cheese skippers, mites, red-legged ham beetles, and larder beetles. (Hui, Y. H., 2012: 540)

Barel Pork

Injection of meat by itself was not invented by Morris and referenced to it dates back to barrel-pork. A general description of barrel pork comes to us in 1776 where liquid brine is used without injecting it.

“After the meat has cooled < probably after the hair was removed >, 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 being made of 4 lb. of salt (1.8kg or 10%), 2 lb. of brown sugar (0.9kg or 5%), and 4 gallons of water (15L or 84%) 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, LZ, 2003: 9, 10) Again, notice the brine make-up of salt, saltpetre, sugar mixed with water. The role of the sugar was to break the hard salt taste.

Barrel pork would remain an important curing method throughout the 1700s and would make a spectacular return almost 100 years later when pressure pumps were introduced to inject the brine into the meat through needles. A plank would be run across the barrel opening. The meat is placed on the plank for injection with between one and three needles. The three needles are fed brine through a hand pump that would pump brine directly from the barrel. The barrel is half-filled with brine. After the meat has been injected, it is pushed off the plank, to fall into the brine which acts as a cover brine. It would remain in the cover brine the prescribed time before it is removed and smoked.

Conclusion About Dr. Morgan and who Invented Meat Injection

Dr John Morgan from the University of Dublin must rightfully be credited as one of the pioneers of meat injection, as a progression of an original development from the world of mummification, invented by the Dutch physician, Frederik Ruysch. The concept was “in the air,” so to speak and in an 1868 publication, On Food. Letherby says that “saline substances such as saltpetre, acetate of ammonia, sulfite of potash, or soda, muriate of ammonia (sal ammoniac or ammonium chloride), etc., were being injected into fresh meat for the purpose of preservation with several patents pending by Long (1834), Horsley (1847), Murdock (1851) and others. (Letheby, H., 1870) Morgan’s injection of meat remains the oldest reference directly attributed to one individual and if he is not the person who was the first to make the general transfer of application between the injection of cadavers for the purpose of preservation to pork, for the same reason, he certainly is one of the first. Undoubtedly, the method of arterial injection, in particular, later adopted by Harris, is a progression solely credited to him!

It fascinates me that Ireland plaid such a pivotal role in pork production! Not only did they advance needle injection – but they also invented the mild cured system, now in use in Denmark and at the factories of C & T Harris. I took careful notes and was very eager to report back to John Harris. Minette and I had the most amazing time in Ireland and we continue to be amazed at the rich history associated with the art of meat curing. Both Minette and I agreed that John Harris can give us many more similar assignments. Is my entire trip to Europe and England not just that – an adventure of discovery?!

When we return to Calne, I expect that Oscar will be joining us for a visit within days. He sent me a message just before he boarded the ship. I am very excited to see him and show him the Harris operation. I dream of the day when I can take the two of you on a tour of the world to show you the different places I learned and introduce you to the many people who taught me.

Lots of love from Ireland!

Your Dad and Minette

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Further Reading

Bacon Curing – a Historical Review

Dr. Morgan’s Arterial Injection: The Australian Connection

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(c) eben van tonder

“Bacon & the art of living” in bookform
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Notes

(1) Dr. Stamatis Papaikonomou, BOptom (RAU) FOA (SA) CAS DPA TPA (NECO),
Reg.Optometrist (HPCSA) Diagnostic Optometry, Assoc. Ophthalmology Society (SA).

He conducts research in Edenburg. Stamatis Papaikonomou is a full practicing member of the Professional Board for Optometry and registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). He holds undergraduate qualifications in Medical Technology MT (HPCSA)SCH, a Bachelors Degree in Optometry (RAU), and numerous post-graduate Advanced Studies International Programme (ASIP) Certifications in Vision Science (CAS DPA TPA) from The New England College of Optometry (NECO) Boston Massachusetts, U.S.A. His main field of interest is in Diagnostic Optometry, both adult and pediatric, for which he holds an additional category registration with the HPCSA. He is a Fellow of the Optometric Association SA (FOA), an Associate Member of the Ophthalmological Society SA, a member of the Glaucoma Society SA, and a member of the Medicolegal Society SA. His website is: https://www.eyecarecentre.co.za/johannesburg-specialist-optometrist-stamatis-papaikonomou.php

References

http://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/biogs/E000398b.htm

Dr. Morgan’s Arterial Injection: The Australian Connection

Photos

Photos from various sources on the web.

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.

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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.

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.

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Further Reading

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(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

http://www.google.com/patents/US474446

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/174678/Henri-Dutrochet

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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