5 ms·

"The spice must flow" has this historic antecedent. At times pepper's taste, preservative, alleged health value and price was off the scale, not unlike Dune spi

"The spice must flow" has this historic antecedent. At times pepper's taste, preservative, alleged health value and price was off the scale, not unlike Dune spice.

johnhenry 5y ago
Inhale enough pepper and things get crazy, not unlike Dune spice.
unwind 5y ago
Are you sure pepper has preservative properties? Any link/reference would be appreciated, I hadn't heard of that before. A quick check of Wikipedia didn't find anything either.
- jasone 5y ago
  I recall reading about spice being used to mask the flavor of food starting to go bad. It's not a preservative function, rather it allows people to eat poor-tasting-but-not-yet-poisonous food.
  - ars 5y ago
    That's a myth that won't go away: http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com/2013/03/todays-research-snippet-myth-about.html http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com/2013/0...
- caseyohara 5y ago
  From the linked article: As a Preservative: The value of pepper as a natural preservative for meat and other perishable foods has been known for centuries. Studies have shown that this is due to the anti-oxidant and anti-microbial properties present in pepper.
  - unwind 5y ago
    Haha thanks, serves me right for skimming, I guess. I couldn't come up with any examples of foods preserved using black pepper obviously, but that might just be cultural filtering (I'm from northern Europe). Googling says "jams, pickles, preserves and candies" which was not very helpful.
    - jaclaz 5y ago
      JFYI in Italy (in the North) there are a number of ham-like products that are essentially "covered" in pepper, example: https://www.menatti.com/en/prodotto/peppered-prosciutto-crudo/ https://www.menatti.com/en/prodotto/peppered-prosciutto-crud... But usually most hams have the "cut" part covered in ground salt and black pepper anyway.
      - marsa 5y ago
        yup most aged dried or smoked meat products in this area use a mixture of salt, pepper, and various herbs to preserve the meat. prosciutto and bacon most notably.
    - AareyBaba 5y ago
      Pastrami, Italian sausage

"The spice must flow" has this historic antecedent. At times pepper's taste, preservative, alleged health value and price was off the scale, not unlike Dune spice.

johnhenry 5y ago

Inhale enough pepper and things get crazy, not unlike Dune spice.

unwind 5y ago

Are you sure pepper has preservative properties? Any link/reference would be appreciated, I hadn't heard of that before. A quick check of Wikipedia didn't find anything either.

jasone 5y ago
I recall reading about spice being used to mask the flavor of food starting to go bad. It's not a preservative function, rather it allows people to eat poor-tasting-but-not-yet-poisonous food.
- ars 5y ago
  That's a myth that won't go away: http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com/2013/03/todays-research-snippet-myth-about.html http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com/2013/0...
caseyohara 5y ago
From the linked article: As a Preservative: The value of pepper as a natural preservative for meat and other perishable foods has been known for centuries. Studies have shown that this is due to the anti-oxidant and anti-microbial properties present in pepper.
- unwind 5y ago
  Haha thanks, serves me right for skimming, I guess. I couldn't come up with any examples of foods preserved using black pepper obviously, but that might just be cultural filtering (I'm from northern Europe). Googling says "jams, pickles, preserves and candies" which was not very helpful.
  - jaclaz 5y ago
    JFYI in Italy (in the North) there are a number of ham-like products that are essentially "covered" in pepper, example: https://www.menatti.com/en/prodotto/peppered-prosciutto-crudo/ https://www.menatti.com/en/prodotto/peppered-prosciutto-crud... But usually most hams have the "cut" part covered in ground salt and black pepper anyway.
    - marsa 5y ago
      yup most aged dried or smoked meat products in this area use a mixture of salt, pepper, and various herbs to preserve the meat. prosciutto and bacon most notably.
  - AareyBaba 5y ago
    Pastrami, Italian sausage