Temporary Exhibit

The Evolution of Food Preservation

As gardeners harvest the last of their crops, they are faced with the age-old dilemma of how to preserve the fruits of their labor and enjoy them at a later time. Thanks to home canning methods and the invention of iceboxes in the early 1800s food preservation became less tedious. The historical origins of food preservation are really quite interesting. We invite you to take a journey with us through “The Evolution of Food Preservation,” our next temporary exhibit at the museum.

The astonishing fact about food preservation is that it infiltrated every culture at nearly every moment in time. Ancient man had to learn how to harness nature so that he could plant roots, live in one place for an extended period of time, and not consume the kill or harvest immediately. Each culture preserved their local food sources using the same basic methods of food preservation: drying, freezing, fermenting, pickling, curing, jam and jelly, and canning.

Evidence shows that Middle East and oriental cultures actively dried foods as early as 12,000 B.C. using the sun and wind. 

Freezing was an obvious preservation method in geographic areas that had freezing temperatures. Less than freezing temperatures were used to prolong storage times. Cellars, caves and cool streams were put to good use for that purpose.

Fermentation, undoubtedly, was discovered when a few grains of barley were left in the rain. Microorganisms fermented the starch-derived sugars into alcohol and beer was the result. It was soon discovered that fermented fruit becomes wine, and cabbage becomes sauerkraut. Some anthropologists believe that nomadic wanderers settled down into farmers to grow barley to make beer in roughly 10,000 B.C.

Pickling preserved foods by soaking in vinegar and other acids that were created through the fermentation of wines, beers and ciders. Perhaps the wine or beer went sour and the taste of the food in it was quite appealing. However, the acid would dissolve the metal from pots so the creation of stoneware crocks and glass jars became a necessity.

The earliest curing process was dehydration. Early cultures used salt to desiccate foods by choosing raw salts from different sources such as, rock salt, sea salt, spiced salt, etc. In the 1800s it was discovered that certain sources of salt gave meat a red color instead of the usual unappetizing grey which consumers overwhelmingly preferred.

Preservation with the use of honey or sugar was well known to the earliest cultures. In ancient Greece, quince, an apple like fruit was mixed with honey, dried and packed tightly in jars. The Romans improved the method by cooking the quince and honey producing a solid texture creating jams and jellies.

Canning is the newest method of food preservation. In 1795, Napoleon Bonapart, offered a reward of 12 thousand francs for the invention of a new food preservation method. Nicolas Appert, a French confectioner, discovered that the application of heat to food in sealed glass bottles preserved the food from deterioration. He won Napoleon’s reward in 1809. Based on Appert’s methods, Englishman, Peter Durand, created the tin canister in 1810. From there, the canning world exploded with the first American cannery opening in 1812 and John L. Mason patents the Mason jar.

Today, our interests have shifted from preserving food “because we have to”, to “preserve because we like to.” Stop by the museum to see the fascinating evolution of food preservation from jars and crocks to pressure canners and more on display through the end of November.

by Lisa Moomaw