The name “Botulism”
obviously points an incriminating
finger to its derivation. In France a blend of spices,
“ quatre epices” made from pepper, cloves, ginger and nutmeg,
have been used in the making of “safe” sausages for
hundreds of years and has significantly reducing deaths,
over the centuries, from botulism. Many spice
and herb mixtures, such as “ quatre epices”,
“ Chinese five spice” and ” bouquet garni”, have far
more potent antiseptic properties when combined together,
a synergistic effect, than used independently.
When used in association with lemon /
lime juice or vinegar many herbs and spices produce
a similar synergistic response.

Considering that
pathogenic micro-organisms initially contaminate
the surface of meats the idea of rubbing in herbs and
spices, or marinating wild game, that could be seriously
contaminated during transport, seems amply justified.
Cooking meats destroys most pathogens, especially surface
invaders but does it also deplete the effectiveness
of the herbs and spices used ? Have you noticed that
all recipes call for putting in certain herbs
( such as onions, garlic, pepper, sage and cloves )
at the start of cooking and adding other herbs
( parsley, cilantro = coriander leaf, basil to name a few )
at or near the completion of the cooking process.
This order of cooking was found to be well founded,
with the antiseptic properties of the early
ingredients being thermo stable after three hours of
cooking while the inhibitory properties of the
final ingredients were destroyed ( thermo labile )
if cooked.

Most of you will remember the health
warnings during the summer months, ”Don’t leave
food out on the bench, especially meats
and fish. Put them in the refrigerator, maximum
temperature of 4oC”. The warnings are certainly
justified since bacteria, once landed on their favorite moist
food, multiply exponentially ( squared ie. 100 2 ŕ 10000
in just the first reproductive phase ),
in cool temperatures the time taken to divide is long
( < -18 oC years, 0-4 oC a week or so,
12 oC 1 division every 8 hours, 27 oC 1 division
every 40 minutes ). You don’t have to be a genius
to work out that meats become unfit to eat very
quickly in the tropics and yet meat can be stored
outside over the winter in Lapland. Stir-fry cooking
techniques, very hot with lots of potent bactericidal
spices, certainly makes a lot of sense if you are
living in tropical Asia but doesn't’t really seem
appropriate for cold climate cuisine. The food poisoning
statistics for Japan and Korea give credence for
cooking with spices. During the period 1971 - 1990
bacterial food poisoning was 29.2 / 100,000 in Japan
compared with 3 / 100,000 in Korea. Korean cuisine has
spices and herbs in 88% of its meat dishes and
an average of 3.6 highly potent spice / herb varieties
per dish. Japan as a comparison has 74% of its meat / fish
dishes spiced using 2.2 spice / herb low potency
varieties per dish. Not so much the spice of life but
the spice for life.

Roger
Copyright HELD.