Food Preservation: Lets Talk Methods

Canning is just one of many food preservation methods. Other

methods include food burial, pickling, smoking, candying, and
more.
In our two-part series on food preservation basics, we talk
about methods, which include the ingredients discussed in our
Spin, Food Preservation, Lets Talk Ingredients . Make sure
you read that as well; its just as important to understand the
food preservation ingredients at your disposal as it is
important to understand methods.
This is an overview of all of the traditional food preservation
methods that are available to the homeowner. People can be
surprised when they learn about all of the available methods
and how they work. Its beneficial to know the landscape
before planning how youre going to preserve surplus food.
BURIAL
Most people dont immediately associate food and burial, but it
just goes to show you that assumptions dont get you anywhere
useful in life. The constant temperatures, darkness, and
humidity levels associated with burial are ideal for preventing
spoilage of root crops in particular, but also foods like onions
and cabbages and foods that have been previously dried. The
root cellar, a wonderful way to preserve root vegetables and
other hardy vegetables such as cabbages, is one form of burial.
Cache pits used by Native Americans is a form of food
preservation via burial (image from lewisandclarktrail.com)
Other forms of burial storage include the storage clamp and
the cache pit. Storage clamps recreate the conditions found in
a root cellar where top soil is scraped to create a shallow,
rectangular depression, food such as potatoes are piled into a
ridge-shaped heap, then covered with about six inches of straw
or hay. On top of this is placed the soil that was removed
during scraping.
The cache pit, used by agricultural Native American tribes such
as the Mandan and Hidatsa, is a combination of a root cellar
and a storage clamp that was used for winter food storage.
Pits were dug into the ground to store the important crops of
corn, beans, sunflower seeds, and dried squash.
Burial has been used in conjunction with fermentation, and was
common in the making of kimchi and sauerkraut. Desiccation
(drying) has also been associated with burial in desert locales,
such as in Egypt. In fact, drying was first used in ancient
Egypt as a food preservation method after it was noticed that
burial of food caused it to be dried and, therefore, preserved.
Ultimately this method included mummification of humans and
not just food.
Candied fruits can take a fair amount of time, but it is a
sweet way to preserve treats.
CANDYING
Candying fruits, also known as Glac or crystallized fruit,
involves placing whole or pieces of fruit in a heated syrup, then
draining it, and repeating this cycle using increasingly strong
concentrations of syrup over weeks or even months. It is the
intense saturation of the fruit in sugar that enhances
desiccation and creates an environment unfavorable for
bacterial growth. Plus, its tasty!
CANNING
Canning is probably the best known method of home food
preservation using glass jars (or metal cans) with pressure-
sealed lids, and includes processing by water bath or pressure
canner. The water bath method of canning can be used with
foods such as high-sugar jams and jellies or acidic tomato
products and pickles. Water bath canning is accessible to most
homeowners who have the desire to dip their toe in food
preservation methods. Canning a fruit jam is a recommended
first step for the soul who is interested in stepping into the
world of home food preservation.
Pressure canning of foods is needed for non-acid foods
including many vegetables like beans and potatoes, and meats.
A pressure canner (as opposed to a pressure cooker) is required
for canning these items, and it is recommended that someone
have some water-bath canning experience under their belt
before purchasing and using a pressure canner. But the
versatility a pressure canner brings to the home storage
kitchen is worth its weight in gold.
This capicola, an Italian sausage, is cured with salt and hung
for 60 days to dry and age.
CURING
Curing involves using salt (sometimes in combination with
sugar) to preserve meats and fish. Curing is one popular way to
make sure meat is available in winter for the home larder. Salt
at different concentrations inhibits the growth of dangerous
food bacteria such as Listeria , Staphylococcus, and Salmonella .
Salt can be added to meats as a liquid brine (strong enough to
float an egg), or as a dry cure, such as with sausage making.
Dry salting is also known as corning, because in early British
history Anglo Saxons preserved meats with corns (coarse
pieces) of salt. Irish corned beef is the most famous example of
this, but any meat can be corned in this way for preservation.
Nitrites can also be used in meat curing because they allow
meats to retain a pink color, and they help to prevent the
growth of bacteria such as botulism. However, nitrite use can be
tricky business as it is toxic at high enough levels. For a review
of nitrites in curing, read Nitrite in Meat from the
University of Minnesota Extension office. (Note: nitrates are
no longer allowed for commercial meat curing, with the
exception of dry-cured, uncooked meats. It is a suspected
carcinogen.)
But not all salt curing can prevent the growth of bacteria;
because of this it is recommended that home meat curers start
out their curing adventures by using pre-made mixes, which
have been tested for food safety. Potential sources for ready-
made curing mixes include sites like Morton Salt, or Wedliny
Domowe , which includes a cure-calculator on their website so
you know exactly how much of a cure mix you need for
different meats. But there are other sources for cures, and
youre encouraged to seek out trusted sources.
Hanging herbs must have good air circulation to dry properly.
DRYING
There are several ways to dry food, and drying food is
arguably the most efficient, and oldest, method to preserve
food. It is not uncommon to find dried fruits and vegetables in
Egyptian tombs that are thousands of years old, and still
edible. Dehydrating food removes enough moisture to prevent
decay. The secret to good drying include heating the food so
the moisture is eliminated quickly enough to not affect food
flavor, but not so hot that it cooks the food. But getting the
heat to the right point is important; if the temperature is too
low bacteria can grow, yet if its too high the food may harden
on the surface before the inside has had a chance to dry. Air
circulation is also paramount when it comes to properly drying
foods.
Dried food can come in many forms from fruit leathers to
jerky and they all can be dried using the power of the sun,
electric dehydrators, or the oven. But all methods must have
good air circulation to carry the moisture away from your
food. If you live in a drier climate, the sun may be all you need
to dry foods. You can dry food outside on racks covered with
screening to protect from insects and birds, or build a solar
dehydrator like the one provided in this great article from
Home Power Magazine , Indirect, Through-Pass, Solar Food
Dryer.
If solar dehydration wont work for you, you can always
purchase an electric food dehydrator. Electric food
dehydrators can cost anywhere between $20 and $190, but
Ive used $30 models with great success in the past. You can
also use your oven to dehydrate foods, though this method can
be tricky as ovens can run too warm. The oven should be about
140F and the oven door should remain open the entire time to
allow moisture to escape. And since ovens frequently dont hold
the temperature accurately, the use of an oven thermometer
(and frequent checking) is advised.
One last method of dehydrating food involves just leaving the
food on the vine. Beans such as lentils, lima beans, kidney
beans and more can be left in their pods on the plants until the
plants and pods are dried and shriveled. At this point, the
beans can be shelled and stored, but be sure that the beans
are completely dry before storage, or they will mold. If you
feel the beans are not dried enough, dehydrate them more
using one of the above methods.
FERMENTING
This might be one of the all-time favorite methods of
preserving natures bounty! From beer to wine, fermentation
can be our friend. But most people dont realize that there is a
huge array of food preservation via fermenting; even
sourdough starter is considered a fermented, preserved food
(it lasts for hundreds of years)!
Alcohol is just one form of fermentation, but fermentation by
different types of bacteria include lactic acid, alkaline, and
acetic fermentation. Lactic acid fermentation produces foods
like yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi. Vinegars are the most
common form of acetic acid fermentation , and include apple
cider vinegar, kombucha, and wine vinegar. In alkaline
fermentation , protein in foods is broken down into amino acids
and peptides, and during the process ammonia is released
giving the foods a distinct smell. Alkali fermentation is popular
in countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, such as a soybean
dish called natto in Japan, or dawadawa from African locust
beans.
JELLYING
Pickling, such as these hot peppers, can be accomplished with
vinegar, oil, or alcohol.
Jellying does not refer to the making of sweet fruit jelly
(thats a form of canning). Instead, jellying is a form of food
preservation where the food to be preserved is cooked in a
substance that forms a natural gel, thereby inhibiting bacterial
growth by decreasing oxygen levels. The gelatinous substance is
typically something like gelatin, arrowroot, or agar. Aspic is
probably the best known form of jellying, where meat is potted
(see below) in a combination of gelatin and meat broth.
PICKLING
Pickling is the use of an anti-microbial brew to preserve
produce and meats. Typical pickling liquids include vinegar,
brines, alcohol, and oils, and additional ingredients to flavor
the food include salts, herbs, and spices. ( Note : pickling in oil is
not recommended for canning.) Pickling can be a form of
fermentation for foods such as kimchi and sauerkraut, but in
these cases the food itself is the preservative.
Popular forms of pickles include just straight-up cucumber
pickles, but also delectable dishes from all over the world, such
as the Italian giardiniera, pickled onions and eggs in British
fish and chips shops, pickled herring in Scandinavia, and Achar
in India, a pickle made from mangos, lime, vegetables, and an
assortment of other ingredients.
POTTING
Cooked meats were sometimes placed in hot earthenware crocks
and pressed to eliminate as much oxygen as possible to preserve
them. Then the meat was covered with a hot fat that
hardened at room temperature, such as lard. The fat
prevented oxygen from reaching the meats. Duck confit,
potted shrimp, and Pt are forms of potting, though potted
meats traditionally were eaten by the British. It is crucial that
as much oxygen as possible is eliminated from the meat, or
bacteria will grow.
Smoking fish, such as this herring in Denmark, is one of the
oldest methods of meat preservation.
SMOKING
No discussion on food preservation would be complete without
smoking, where meats and fish are cure-smoked with
smoldering wood, which also serves to add a layer of
desiccation to the preserving qualities of the smoke itself.
Smoking is one of the oldest food preservation methods along
with drying and burial, when food was cooked over open fires.
Smoked meats traditionally were sliced thin and placed over a
fire where three modes of preservation took place: The heat of
the fire killed harmful microorganisms, some of the chemical
compounds in the wood being used for smoking had an anti-
microbial actions, and dehydration prevented degradation.
If you have any tips on any of these food preservation