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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
