getting canned
Posted on 13. Aug, 2010 by Nick in lifestyle
words > CRAIG AINSWORTH
Preserving food is something humans have done since the dawn of time. Prehistoric peoples developed methods like smoking and salting in order to preserve their meats. Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were able to keep their Figs and Olives from spoiling by drying them in the hot sun or storing them in olive oil. Europeans used Yeast and Fungi a thousand years ago to make foods, like Cheese and Wine, which would “keep” for long periods of time. However, it was only a few hundred years ago that a Frenchman named Nicolas Appert discovered how to keep fresh fruits and vegetables from spoiling for long periods of time.
Napoleon Bonaparte found that waging war during the winter months was a difficult endeavor due to the lack of food for his troops. He was quoted as saying, “An army marches on its stomach.” In 1795 Napoleon along with the French Government offered 12,000 francs to anyone that could develop a way to preserve food for the Army and Navy. A French winemaker named Nicolas Appert took up the challenge. He believed that he would be able to preserve food in bottles with corks, covered in wax as he did with his wine. For 14 years he experimented with various methods. After many trials he found that if the bottles of food were submerged in hot water for a few hours the air would be pushed out of the bottle and a vacuum would be made—somehow preserving the food. In 1810 Nicolas Appert received the 12,000 franc prize after sending Napoleon and his troops bottles of Partridges, Gravy, and Vegetables. He reportedly said, “Every one of which retained its freshness, and not a single substance had undergone the least change at sea.” Nicolas Appert never knew exactly why corked bottles that were heated preserved their contents and he died in 1841, 20 years before Louis Pasteur, biologist and the “Father of Micro-Biology,” discovered microbes.
As Pasteur was discovering the microbe, American tinsmith John L. Mason was inventing the style of glass jars that we use for canning today. Mason’s jars had a threaded top that fit a screw-on lid, which made the seal tighter and much more sturdy. This new design was better able to keep bacteria out of the food, making home-canning much safer. Because of this new design, Appert’s corked and waxed bottles became a thing of the past.
In America the rush West followed by the Civil War, and later WWI, dramatically increased the popularity of “canned” foods. By WWII 20 million Americans were growing “Victory Gardens” and canning their crops to help with the war effort. Victory Gardens planted in flowerbeds, backyards, and rooftops accounted for over 1/3rd of the produce in America by the early 1940s.
With the explosion of refrigeration, faster, more efficient transportation, and the advent of chain grocery stores, home-canning became less and less popular. Many Americans chose the quicker and easier method of going to their corner market to find what they needed.
Throughout the years, a handful of people have been able to keep the art of canning alive. Many of us can remember our parents or grandparents boiling jars in the kitchen on summer days. Their pantries would be filled with mason jars containing fresh Green Beans, Tomatoes, Peach jelly, or Pickles. Or maybe you remember the sound that the lid of a mason jar made as it popped open at Thanksgiving, releasing the sweet smell of a summertime garden.
With the rise of gas prices, increased awareness of current food production practices, and society’s general move toward a more healthy and natural lifestyle, home-canning has once again seen a surge in popularity.
Although food preservation has been around for tens of thousands of years, it is only recently that we have developed methods to keep fresh food fresh for long periods of time. Originally developed to feed armies during battle, canned foods are now used to provide a healthy, inexpensive, and more fulfilling life for many families.
Interesting Fact: The Can Opener was invented 30 years after the Can.
