By Eben van Tonder, 9 September 2025

Follow from The Pact of Oxygen, Nitrogen, Iron, and Electrons, which I wrote 9 days before our wedding.

** In celebration of my wife **

Eben and Kristi: A Boer and a Styrian

Living among a tribe.
The mountains became a hall. The fires, our chandeliers.

The whales as witnesses.
The waves – beating drums for the feast.
My brothers had come. The children joined.
Juanita and Elmar worked for months.
Every hand carried a task. Every heart, anticipation.

I am a Boer from South Africa.
She is a Styrian from Austria.
Her soul is shaped by the Alps,
yet her heart is bound to the Karoo,
its silence, vastness and hidden strength.

And Kristi – a vision.
She wore a wreath of flowers, light woven into her hair.
Her traditional dress, stitched with care and love.
We had a second dress made with ethnic soul,
Africa – past and present.
A queen in the night, a princess in the feast.
She – absolutely beautiful.
My bride, my Styrian, my eternal love.

Elmar tended the meat.
He smoked it for weeks.
He rubbed it with saltpetre.
He knew what it would do.

The Covenant of Nitrate and Iron

Saltpetre is patient.
It waits in silence.
Nitrate becomes nitrite.
Nitrite becomes nitric oxide.

NO is restless.
It seeks iron. Always iron.
It binds the heme of myoglobin.
Iron accepts it. The bond is sealed.

The flesh changes colour.
Not the fleeting red of raw meat.
A stable hue that endures heat, time, and air.
Nitrosylmyoglobin.
And with fire, nitrosylhemochrome.
A colour of covenant.
A colour of trust.

As NO binds to iron,
so she bound her hand in mine.
The covenant sealed.
The covenant: Kristi and Eben.

The Fire of Paprika

Elmar rubbed paprika on the cured surface.
Its pigments, capsanthin and capsorubin, burned red into the fat.
Its flavour entered the pores.

Paprika carried more than colour.
It carried ascorbate.
Vitamin C, though fragile, is fierce.
It reduces nitrite to nitric oxide.
It feeds electrons into the reaction.
It prevents nitrosation from turning amines into nitrosamines.
It is both activator and shield.

The fire of paprika was not just taste.
It was chemistry.
It was defence.

So too her beauty.
The wreath of flowers, the red of her lips,
the fire in her eyes.
Flame and shield.
Fire, taste, and defence: Eben and Kristi.

The Two Faces of Rosemary

Tristan and Shannon prepared the rosemary.
They sought its essence.

Water drew out the rosmarinic acid.
But water alone missed much.
Carnosic acid and carnosol hid in the oil.
They needed alcohol, or gentle oil, to coax them out.
Two solvents. Two faces.
One hydrophilic. One lipophilic.
Together they protect both water and fat.

Polyphenols and diterpenes.
Flavonoids and acids.
Radical scavengers.
Lipid guardians.
A shield for the meat.

Elmar soaked the pieces in this potion.
The scent of pine and mint.
The power of flavonoids and diterpenes.
The chemistry of protection.

So too she carried two faces.
A queen and a princess.
Strength and gentleness.
A shield for me, as rosemary shielded the meat.
The shield of rosemary: Eben and Kristi.

The Pact of Smoke

For weeks the smoke curled.
Thin, blue, cool.
It did not cook. It watched. It whispered.

Wood gave its secrets.
Phenols, guaiacol, syringol, catechol.
They scavenged free radicals.
They bound to proteins and fat.
They stabilised the colour of NO’s covenant.

Organic acids of acetic and formic.
They lowered the surface pH.
They slowed the hand of spoilage.

Carbonyls of aldehydes and ketones.
They added flavour.
They reacted with amines, diverting them from danger.

Cold smoke is alchemy without fire.
A slow transfusion of antioxidants.
A layer of defence laid over the paprika and rosemary.
The pact was sealed.

And so was ours.
Two lives slowly smoked in time.
Our love became colour, flavour, and covenant.
The pact of smoke: Kristi and Eben.

The Shield Against Nitrosamines

Nitrosamines wait in the shadows of chemistry.
They form when secondary amines meet nitrosating agents.
They are born in heat.
They thrive in frying pans.

But here the system was different.
Ascorbate intercepted the nitrosating intermediates.
Phenols consumed radicals before they could strike.
Rosemary diterpenes guarded the fat.
Organic acids shifted the balance away from nitrosation.

Three shields.
Paprika, rosemary, smoke.
All standing with saltpetre and NO.
The danger diverted.
The meat made safe.

So too our marriage.
Shields on every side.
Love against danger.
Covenant against decay.

The Night of Song

We dressed Austrian.
Dirndls and lederhosen. Hats with feathers.
Kristi’s motherland bound into the night.

We danced to Austrian songs until the stars turned.
Children laughed. Brothers embraced.
Juanita’s work shone in the tables.
Elmar’s labour smoked on the plates.

She is a queen.
She is a princess.
A vision of perfection.

We feasted.
The meat was covenant and story.
Saltpetre had become colour.
Paprika had become flame.
Rosemary had become shield.
Smoke had become protection.

The tribe and the family ate together.
Europeans and Africans. Brothers and children.
Science and love.
A wedding feast that tasted like home.

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Technical Note: The Perfect Union of Chemistry

The subject is so important and so clear that a technical note is warranted. In ancient Styrian Catholic rituals, cured meat is a symbol of Christ’s resurrection and the renewing power of his blood. In the life of me and Kristi, it was salt that brought us together, and curing chemistry became the development of our relationship as we studied the likely curing reactions in the ancient Hallstatt curing vats. It now becomes a symbol of our union and the bond between us. The reactions that create this perfect bond in curing must be further elucidated not only by poetry and prose, but also by scientific evaluation. What follows is the chemistry behind the covenant.

1. The Pathway of Curing

In the story, Elmar rubbed saltpetre and waited. This is the quiet work of nitrate, nitrite, and nitric oxide.

• Nitrate (NO₃⁻) is slowly reduced to nitrite (NO₂⁻) by bacteria such as Staphylococcus and Kocuria (Toldrá 2010).
• Nitrite under mildly acidic, reducing conditions forms nitrous acid (HNO₂), which breaks down to nitric oxide (NO) (Honikel 2008).
• NO binds the iron of myoglobin, forming nitrosylmyoglobin, which, on heating, becomes the stable cured pigment nitrosylhemochrome (Pegg & Shahidi 2000).
• This covenant of NO and iron not only brings colour but also inhibits lipid oxidation and suppresses Clostridium botulinum.

Just as NO seals the bond with iron, so marriage seals the bond of two lives.

2. Nitrosamine Formation and Why It Was Prevented

Nitrosamines are formed when secondary amines meet nitrosating species (Mirvish 1995).

• This chemistry is favoured in neutral to alkaline pH (≥7) (Chow 1992).
• At the acidic pH of the stomach (1–3), nitrosation is suppressed, so endogenous gastric nitrosamines are extremely unlikely (Mirvish 1995; Lijinsky 1999).
• Only in the alkaline distal gut can nitrosation occur, and even there, only if dietary balance is poor (Bartsch 1990).

As our covenant was protected by faith and love, so the chemistry was shielded from decay.

3. The Triple Shield: Smoke, Rosemary, Paprika

Here, the story becomes more than curing. It becomes a union of defences, and each one reflects Kristi.

Smoke

• Phenols (guaiacol, syringol, catechol) scavenge radicals and intercept nitrosating species (Toth & Potthast 1984).
• Organic acids (acetic, formic) lower pH, shifting the chemistry away from nitrosation (Maga 1988).
• Carbonyls bind with amines, reducing precursors (Toth & Potthast 1984).

Like smoke, she surrounds me quietly, a fragrance, a shield, stabilising what might otherwise falter.

Rosemary extract

• Rosmarinic acid (water-soluble) quenches reactive nitrogen species.
• Carnosic acid and carnosol (lipid-soluble) guard fats against oxidation, cutting off radical cascades that feed nitrosation (Aruoma 1996).
• Together, the two phases cover both water and fat domains of the meat.
  

Like rosemary, she is both gentle and strong, water and oil, queen and princess who is — protecting all that we are.

Paprika and peppers (ascorbate)

• Vitamin C reduces nitrosating species back to nitric oxide before they can form nitrosamines (Sebranek & Bacus 2007; Sindelar & Milkowski 2012).
• It also accelerates cured colour formation and stabilises NO–heme bonds.
  

Like fire, she brings colour and warmth, fierce yet protective, both flame and shield. She is my ultimate passion!

4. The Celebration of Union

When smoke, rosemary, and ascorbate stand together with saltpetre, the danger of nitrosamines vanishes.

• At smoking temperatures (20–90 °C), nitrosamines do not form.
• Even at frying/grilling heat (150–200 °C), ascorbate prevents their formation, ensuring the system remains safe (Sebranek & Bacus 2007).
• With smoke phenols, rosemary diterpenes, and vitamin C all intercepting radicals and nitrosating species, the chemistry is driven entirely toward colour, flavour, and preservation — and away from nitrosamines.

It is a perfect union of shields.
The covenant of science.
The mirror of marriage.
The symbol of us.

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References

Toth, L., & Potthast, K. (1984). Chemical aspects of the smoking of meat and meat products. Advances in Food Research, 29, 87–158.

Aruoma, O.I. (1996). Carnosic acid and carnosol: natural dietary antioxidants. Cell Biology and Toxicology, 12(1), 1–5.

Bartsch, H. (1990). Nitrosamine formation in human environments. IARC Scientific Publications, 105, 210–220.

Chow, C.K. (1992). Nitrosamines and nitrosamine formation in foods. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 30(9), 831–839.

Honikel, K.O. (2008). The use and control of nitrate and nitrite for the processing of meat products. Meat Science, 78(1–2), 68–76.

Lijinsky, W. (1999). N-Nitroso compounds in the diet. Mutation Research, 443(1–2), 129–138.

Maga, J.A. (1988). Smoke in Food Processing. CRC Press.

Mirvish, S.S. (1995). Role of N-nitroso compounds and nitrosation in cancer etiology. Cancer Letters, 93(1), 17–48.

Pegg, R.B., & Shahidi, F. (2000). Nitrite Curing of Meat: The N-Nitrosamine Problem and Nitrite Alternatives. Food & Nutrition Press.

Sebranek, J.G., & Bacus, J.N. (2007). Cured meat products without direct addition of nitrate or nitrite. Meat Science, 77(1), 136–147.

Sindelar, J.J., & Milkowski, A.L. (2012). Human safety controversies surrounding nitrate and nitrite in the diet. Nitric Oxide, 26(4), 259–266.

Toldrá, F. (2010). Handbook of Meat Processing. Blackwell.