Saltpeter, Horse Sweat and Biltong

The historical facts seem to point to the following origins of Biltong.

DRIED BEEF - A DUTCH FAVOURITE

The Dutch brought with them to the new world at the Cape of Good Hope, a recipe for dried beef. A recipe book from 1664 described the process as follows. "Take of the Buttock-beef (This was called the "bil" and is the first part of the word "biltong") of the oxe, salt it well with bay-salt four of five daies, then hang it a draining one day, then sew it up in thin cloth, and hang it up in a chimney to dry; when you would eat any of it, boil it very tender, and slice it so thin that you may almost see throrow it and eat it with a sallet". (Hannah Woolley, The Cook's Guide) As was the case with bacon at this time, one of the ways it was consumed was to boil it before consumption into a stew-form. Another recipe from the same time (1683) is entitled To dry Beef after the Dutch Fashion (M. H. The Young Cooks Minor). I am still trying to locate the recipe, but it seemed as if drying beef, in a variation on the recipe of Hannah Woolley, was well known by the Dutch Settlers.

VINEGAR

The second fact from this time (1600's), is that the use of vinegar as a preservative became very popular and the science of producing it from fermenting grapes was widespread in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Grapes were cultivated right from the start by the 1652 Dutch settlers to the Cape and vinegar would have been produced right here in the Cape, right from the founding of the refreshment station.

The production of biltong, "bil" (cut from the buttocks of the oxen) and cut into a "tong" (strips, resembling a tongue), and cured with salt, vinegar, spices and saltpetre was probably done from as early as farms were allocated to Dutch Settlers in the Cape. I am reluctant to say that this was an invention by personnel of the VOC due to the many records that exist of bacon being sent to the outposts of the VOC at the Cape as a primary meat source for the officers and men stationed at outposts such as Saldana.

THE PROBLEM OF DISTANCE AND MOVEMENT

Biltong seems to have been a progression of old Dutch recipes by the Dutch farmers at the Cape. What did they do, however, when they moved into the interior? When many of them decided to move to the north, their saltpetre and salt must have run out when they reached Smithfield. From here on they lived from the meat of abundant game they hunted and injured oxen which they killed and while on the move probably cured their meat with the sweat of their horses and hung under the wagons to dry out properly. As I found out, this was almost a universal practice at some point and solid science supports it and links horse saltpetre or sweat saltpetre with rock or cave or produced saltpetre.

Growing up, on my Grandparents farm Stillegoogte in the Fredefort district of the Orange Free State, we called white horse sweat, saltpetre. Marius (my cousin) and I spend our days riding horses and I know horse saltpetre. How it burns your inner thighs when riding without a saddle; its smell and taste. I entered the meat curing industry years later and initially wondered if people cured their meat by using horse sweat. I knew no other substance called saltpetre. I felt a bit silly when I discovered that saltpetre was the salt, sodium nitrate and kept my initial thoughts to myself. Quietly, I continued to wonder why we call horse sweat, saltpetre.

Reading through countless newspaper articles in my research on the origins of biltong, I came across a curious mention by Christina Dodwell, from her book An Explorers Handbook, in the London Times of 12 October 1984. Writing about biltong, she says that "early pioneers in Africa made biltong by putting strips of raw meat under their horses' saddles, to be cured by the salty sweat of the horses."

I Googled the general idea and discovered that when the Huns (3rd or 4th century AD) entered from Asia into the Roman Empire, they placed freshly killed venison, cut into thin strips, under their saddles to be cured by the horses' sweat and tenderised it by the action of the saddle. (Altschul, A. M.; 1976: 123)

The exact same is attributed as being later Mongol Technology (AD 1206 - 94). They too, reportedly, placed meat, cut into thin strips, under the saddle of horses and the weight of the rider, the action of the saddle on the meat and the sweat of the horse tenderised and cured it. There are reports that this was common practice amongst the American Indians. They would cut buffalo meat into strips and place them under their saddle blankets to be cured by the sweat of the horse and dry the meat before eating it. (Cahners; 1969: 196)

There are references of Tartars practising the same. A quote from Appleton's Journal: a magazine of general literature, published in the 19th century as a weekly in New York, with its first issue dated April 3, 1869, makes mention of this. In the third of a series of articles entitled Life in Russia, published on 3 April, 1875, it is reported that "the Tartars of the plains cut the horse-meat into long strips and put them under their saddle in order to render it more tender." (Wottrich, R.. 2012) (1)

The curious and gruesome practice starts to make sense when we consider the chemistry and functionality of sweat. Sweat, it turns out, contains nitrite along with rapid nitric oxide production. The nitrite exists as part of the well-known reduction sequence we know so well from bacon curing where saltpetre (NO3-) was used and through bacterial action, reduced to nitrite (NO2-). Sweat "contains nitrate in appreciable amounts (secreted by glands) and skin commensal bacteria" which reduce nitrate to nitrite. It has been established that under the right temperature, this reduction step can be achieved in under 4 hours. The mean concentration of nitrate in sweat has been reported to be 2.5 NO3- in day -1 or more. Skin pH is normally between 5 and 6.5. (Weller et al, 1996) This means that skin conditions are "favourable for acidified nitrite" and functionally, the nitrite and NO play and "anti-infectious role." (L'hirondel, J., 2002: 87)

It is interesting to think about what was happening to the meat under the weight of the rider and the saddle and the sweat of the horse. Nitrate rich sweat, constantly being replenished from the sweat glands of the horse, being exposed to the meat, being reduced to nitrite and the action of the saddle and the weight of the rider, massaging the meat and aiding in the absorption of the salts into the meat.

WHEN THE DUST SETTLED

It is easy to see how the practice was discontinued as supply lines to Cape Town and Durban was established by the Boer settlements. Salt, spices, vinegar, rock saltpetre again became the regular ingredients for biltong as we know it today, but I am sure the practice of using sweat-saltpeter resurfaced during the two Anglo-Boer wars and in general, during times of distress or want. In seeking the origins of Biltong, this fact of history is both curious and fascinating.

In the photo, I am riding Poon on Stillehoogte. Many moons ago.

(c) Eben van Tonder

Note 1:

Burry (1911) disputes the conclusion that this was done to cure and tenderize the meat. He speculates that the Huns and the Tartars put meat under the saddles, probably to cover sores on the horse before they are saddled. He suggests that the meat itself would be unedible. (Wottrich, R.. 2012) My immediate response is that the preponderance of current evidence would point away from Burry's objection. Wottrich believes that Burry simply could not bring himself to believe that such a vulgar practice could exist. Researching the issue will elucidate the question. The source documents must be studied and Burry's original argument, his own background and the grounds for his objection must be scrutinised before a definite conclusion can be reached. (So many interesting avenues to investigate - so little time) :-) The reality is, however, that there are accounts from all over the world of the practice and that this meat was further dried and later consumed. Recent scientific facts would support the practice and establish the clear link between the sweat of horses and men alike and saltpetre.

References:

Altschul, A. M.. 1976. New Protein Foods: Technology, volume 2, part B. Academic Press.

Cahners. 1969. Volume Feeding Institutions, Volume 64

De Salcedo, A. M.. 2015. Combat-Ready Kitchen: How the U.S. Military Shapes the Way You Eat. Penguin Random House.

L'hirondel, J. 2002. Nitrate and Man: Toxic, Harmless Or Beneficial? CABI Publishing.

Weller, R., Pattullo, S., Smith, L., Golden, M. Ormerod, A., Benjamin, N.. 1996. Nitric Oxide Is Generated on the Skin Surface by Reduction of Sweat Nitrate. Journal of Investigative Dermatology; Volume 107, Issue 3, September 1996, Pages 327-331

Wottrich, R.. 2012. The History of Steak Tartare. Article from: https://brasserieloustau.files.wordpress.com