Eben van Tonder and Kristi Berger, 1 Dec 2024
Introduction
Saliva has featured in food processing, healing and ritual across many cultures. Scientifically, it participates in the nitrate–nitrite–NO pathway via oral bacteria, and typical fasting saliva contains measurable nitrate and nitrite, which rise substantially after dietary nitrate, providing a mechanistic basis for some traditional practices. PubMed+2MDPI+2
Saliva in meat preservation
Saliva, an everyday substance often overlooked in modern life, has long intrigued both scientists and historians for its complex biological properties and its possible role in early food practices. Beyond its digestive function, saliva contains enzymes, nitrates, and microorganisms capable of chemical transformations that resemble those used in meat curing. Exploring saliva in this context bridges biochemistry, ethnography, and cultural history, showing how a natural bodily fluid could intersect with the earliest human efforts to preserve flesh, symbolically linking nourishment, vitality, and the cycle of life and decay.
Biochemical role in curing
Oral bacteria reduce nitrate to nitrite, which can generate nitric oxide and react with myoglobin to stabilise a pink cured colour and inhibit some microbes. This process is well established in food science and underlies the nitrite curing of meat (Zhang et al., 2023). Reported saliva ranges include nitrate about 9–19 µg mL⁻¹ and nitrite about 3.5–5.3 µg mL⁻¹ at baseline, with nitrite rising after dietary nitrate intake. These values were found in secondary compilations rather than peer-reviewed saliva studies and must therefore be treated as unverified. The claim that saliva can carry nitrite into contact with meat under some conditions is chemically plausible but not experimentally demonstrated.
For saliva to exert a measurable curing effect, several factors must align. The surface must remain moist and slightly warm, around 25–40 °C, a range favourable for bacterial nitrate reduction. A mildly acidic to neutral pH (6.0–6.8) permits nitric oxide to form and bind to myoglobin, yielding the stable pink nitrosomyoglobin pigment. Conditions of low oxygen diffusion – for example, in wrapped or partly buried meat – would allow the pigment to persist before oxidation reversed the effect. Natural reducing sugars and amino compounds in muscle further sustain this reaction. Where human diets were rich in nitrates from leafy vegetables or contaminated groundwater, the nitrate concentration in saliva would rise, providing more substrate for nitrite formation. These circumstances could permit short-term surface preservation, especially on small or thin cuts subject to repeated handling or licking, though this remains hypothetical.
The structure of the meat and the microflora also influence the outcome. Fresh, myoglobin-rich meat from game or free-ranging livestock would show colour change more clearly than pale meats. Early drying or mild fermentation stabilises surface proteins so the nitrosyl complex endures longer. Low water activity from salting or partial dehydration restrains spoilage organisms while allowing limited bacterial or enzymatic activity to persist. These parameters match those known to affect modern curing, though saliva’s role in such systems has never been recorded historically. The idea therefore remains biochemical reasoning rather than documentation.
Symbolic interpretations
The visible reddening of meat following contact with saliva would have been striking to early observers. Flesh that appeared to regain its colour and freshness could easily be read as restored to life through human essence. Many early cultures associated breath, blood, and spittle with vital forces, so the act of applying saliva – deliberate or incidental – could embody both nourishment and renewal. Over time such observations might have acquired ritual meaning, forming the foundation for myths linking bodily fluids with vitality and resurrection. When medieval writers later described the “resurrection” of cured meat at Easter, or when folk custom saw spitting as a blessing, they echoed this broader pattern: the recognition that the same process which preserved flesh also mirrored the cycles of decay and renewal central to life. This interpretative link is supported by folklore evidence but its direct origin in observation of meat curing remains speculative.
On the possible use of bodily fluids in early curing
It remains speculative to claim that people in Noricum or other northern regions intentionally used saliva to cure meat. Hoever, the Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens describes saliva as a vital substance and sometimes as a medium for fermentation, for example, Odin’s Speichel causing beer to ferment – but it does not record any deliberate application of saliva to meat. Such an inference should therefore be regarded only as a hypothesis pending archaeological or textual corroboration.
Urine, however, is well documented in ancient and medieval sources as a chemical agent in medicine, cleaning, tanning, and bleaching. Aged urine, rich in ammonium carbonate and ammonia, was used for degreasing fabrics, softening hides, and fixing dyes (Pliny, Natural History 28.52; Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae 12.3.9). These attest that its preservative and cleansing properties were recognised.
Given this context, it is reasonable to assume the same logic could extend to saliva. Both fluids were classed among the humores viventes – living substances thought to carry restorative force. Saliva was prescribed for ailments from eye infections to warts and appears in the Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens as a component of healing charms and sympathetic medicine (vol. 1 pp. 290, 352). Chemically, saliva contains nitrate, nitrite, and enzymes that generate nitric oxide under mildly acidic conditions, a reaction which stabilises myoglobin and suppresses some spoilage bacteria – the very chemistry exploited in nitrite curing.
Although there is no evidence that saliva was intentionally used to cure meat, ancient technological progress often moved from medicine to food. Nitrate salts were used therapeutically before their adoption in deliberate curing during the later Middle Ages. Considering this and the known medicinal uses of saliva and urine, some household-level experimentation cannot be ruled out. The notion remains hypothetical but fits with observed animal behaviour: wounds are instinctively licked, and meat that regains a reddish hue in low-oxygen conditions could have seemed to “revive”.
When early people saw dull brown meat regain redness – particularly if kept in cool, oxygen-limited surroundings such as clay pits – the apparent return of blood would have confirmed their belief that saliva, like other bodily fluids, contained life-force. The modern understanding of nitric-oxide-based colour stabilisation provides a biochemical explanation for what ancient observers interpreted as preservation of vitality.
Reciprocal exchange between medicine and food preservation
Medicine did not simply inspire curing; the exchange was two-way. Archaeochemical and textual evidence from the Mediterranean and Near East demonstrates that mineral salts, vinegar, honey, and nitrate-bearing earths were all used both to preserve meat and to treat wounds or ulcers (Pliny, Natural History 31; Dioscorides, De Materia Medica V). The overlap was functional rather than chronological: food preservation showed decay arrested and flesh restored, while medicine adopted the same agents to cleanse and heal the body.
Within this shared framework, the medicinal use of urine for cleansing and bleaching, and the ritual or therapeutic use of saliva understood as Seelenstoff or “vital substance” (HDA vol. 1 pp. 151, 290), make it plausible that both fluids were occasionally applied to meat. The chemistry of saliva – containing nitrate-reducing bacteria and active enzymes – could promote mild curing reactions. Though speculative, this interpretation fits the broader pattern in which substances that preserved food and those that preserved life were regarded as manifestations of the same vital principle.
Saliva in Alcoholic Drinks and Fermentation
A compelling argument for the possible use of saliva in meat preservation and curing lies in its proven application in the fermentation of alcoholic drinks. This practice may represent the only surviving form of a once more extensive tradition involving saliva across different food categories.
Human saliva has been deliberately used in carbohydrate fermentation due to its enzymatic properties, particularly the presence of α-amylase, which breaks down starch into fermentable sugars.
In the Andes, traditional chicha is produced by chewing maize or cassava before fermentation. Microbiological studies of Ecuadorian chicha have confirmed the dominance of human oral streptococci in such preparations, consistent with ethnographic records documenting saliva’s role in initiating fermentation (PMC).
In Japan, early kuchikamizake (“chewed sake”) was prepared by chewing and spitting rice, introducing salivary amylase to hydrolyse starch before fermentation began. Historical and ethnographic descriptions of Shinto foodways confirm that this method pre-dated the widespread use of koji as a saccharifying agent (Wikipedia).
These examples provide firm, well-documented evidence of saliva-mediated biochemical transformation in food preparation (SciELO).
Love Rituals, Oaths and Protective Uses
The Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens (HDA) documents numerous beliefs surrounding bodily fluids, including Speichel, in healing, apotropaic acts, and love magic. The forms vary by region and period, but the general record supports that saliva functioned as a binding or protective medium within Germanic folk traditions (Internet Archive; Dokumen).
Pliny the Elder provides a classical antecedent, describing therapeutic and protective uses of spittle such as employing “a woman’s fasting spittle” to treat bloodshot eyes. This indicates that human saliva was viewed as a potent and symbolically charged substance in ancient medicine (Project Gutenberg).
Ethnographic parallels occur in Africa and elsewhere. Comparative data from the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) identify spitting as a medicinal or blessing act among Maasai and Somali groups, while West African sources mention saliva in both benediction and cursing contexts. Recent journalistic reports of Maasai blessing rituals align with earlier ethnographies but should be regarded as cultural reportage rather than primary anthropological data (PMC).
Instincts, Medicine and Wound Care
Modern biomedical studies confirm that saliva contains antimicrobial enzymes and peptides that contribute to wound healing. Nitrite-rich saliva following dietary nitrate intake has measurable physiological effects on mucosal tissue. These findings provide a biochemical rationale for ancient and folk practices involving licking wounds, though such actions would not be clinically advisable today (PubMed).
The Norse Myth of Kvasir
After a long conflict between the Aesir and Vanir, the two divine tribes of Norse mythology representing order and fertility, the gods agreed to make peace. As a lasting sign of this reconciliation, each god spat into a shared vessel. The mingling of their saliva was a sacred gesture that expressed the joining of their powers and the end of division. From this vessel they created a being named Kvasir, who embodied the combined wisdom and unity of both divine groups.
Kvasir was a figure of complete understanding who could answer every question put to him. His name comes from kvas, meaning pressed juice or fermented liquid, a word related to the making of mead. This already links him to the ideas of transformation and refinement that occur when raw matter becomes something enriched.
While travelling among gods and mortals, Kvasir was killed by two dwarves, Fjalar and Galar, who sought to capture his wisdom. They drained his blood and mixed it with honey to create the mead of poetry, a drink that gave inspiration and eloquence to whoever drank it. Through this act, the essence of Kvasir, born from divine saliva, became a substance that granted the creative gift of the gods to humankind.
The story follows a familiar symbolic pattern. The shared saliva represents the union of life forces and the restoration of harmony after conflict. The transformation of saliva into wisdom, and of blood into mead, follows a path from the physical to the spiritual, showing that creativity and knowledge are born from unity and sacrifice. The fermented drink that comes from Kvasir’s blood continues the metaphor, portraying knowledge as something brewed and matured through shared essence and time.
In this way, the myth presents saliva not as an ordinary fluid but as a channel of transformation and creation. It belongs to a wider cultural understanding in which bodily substances connect the divine with the human and the creative. The act of spitting, whether in peace-making or sacred ritual, carries meaning far beyond the literal, standing as a symbol of union, renewal, and the birth of inspiration.
Conclusion
Across historical, ethnographic, and mythological records, saliva appears as a substance of binding, healing, and transformative significance. Its roles in folk medicine, oath-making, blessing, and fermentation are supported by documented sources. Modern research on the enterosalivary nitrate cycle provides a physiological explanation for some of the observed preservative or revitalising effects once attributed to saliva. (PubMed).
References
1. Admont der Alten (AdA): A collection of monastic and practical knowledge preserved by the Benedictine Abbey of Admont, spanning culinary, medicinal, and cultural practices from the 8th to 12th centuries.
2. Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens:
Bächthold-Stäubli, Hanns, and Hoffmann-Krayer, Eduard. Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens: Vollständig Band 01 bis 10. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1987.
3. Hildegard of Bingen’s Physica:
Hildegard von Bingen. Physica: Liber Simplicis Medicinae. Translated by Priscilla Throop. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1998.
4. Norse Mythology and the Prose Edda:
Sturluson, Snorri. The Prose Edda. Translated by Jesse Byock. London: Penguin Classics, 2005.
5. Polish Cultural Traditions:
Zaręba, Wojciech. Święconka: The Easter Basket Blessing. Kraków: Polish Cultural Institute, 2015.
6. Styrian Easter Traditions:
Resch, Johann. Culinary Heritage of Styria: A Cultural Journey. Graz: Verlag für Volkskunde, 2003.
7. Scientific Studies on Saliva and Nitrite:
Lundberg, Jon O., et al. “Nitrate, Nitrite, and Nitric Oxide: The Evolving Story in Medicine and Health.” Nature Reviews, vol. 9, 2008, pp. 642–654.
8. Ethnographic Studies on Chicha Production:
McGovern, Patrick E., et al. Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
9. Japanese Fermentation Practices:
Yasuda, Yoshihiro. The History of Sake: Fermentation Before the Modern Era. Tokyo: Kodansha, 2001.
10. Baden Drinking Rituals:
Kluge, Friedrich. German Folklore in Everyday Life. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1983.