15 Comments

When I make Biltong it's coated with spices like coriander which, along with the vinegar bath, preserve the meat for much longer once it's dried.

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I'm a fan of vinegar and spices! Sounds tasty.

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My friends family were Minnesota homesteaders on the 1870s. They spice they used was wild horseback and the family gathers each fall for the hunt

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Wild horseradish?

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Grows next to the cornfields like a weed

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Gotcha. Your original comment is "wild horseback." This makes a LOT more sense!

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In the words of ancient philosophers of Dune, "The spice must flow."

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Wait, there's spice in Dune?

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Yeah, I think it's a type of cologne members of House Ordos wear to parties.

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That explains why they always have those things up their noses: to keep the stink of cologne out of their brains!

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Ever heard of Bay Rum? Because another thing we do with spices and herbs and the like is make lotions and potions to douse our bodies so we smell nice. Old Spice triggered the Bay Rum memory and now I’m off to buy some. After shave with old-timey barber shop vibes

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Interesting! If I've heard of Bay Rum, I've forgotten about it, so there's a pretty good chance I've heard about it.

Fragrance hasn't always been such a trivial thing for us, right? I suspect odors were ultra-important in rituals.

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Yeah I once read a book - Jitterbug Perfume - that went into the details and history of making perfume and iirc whales are involved. Ambergris maybe?

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Sounds like a cool story! I love things like that, where your brain just sort of starts cooking when an idea is introduced. Those details are super duper cool.

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Such a good book. It’s been awhile but here’s part of the synopsis so I think you have to read it: The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god.

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