Food Preservation

[KYHeirloomer]

Mama's "Are You Prepared" thread got me to thinking. There are many people who don't begin to understand how they can put foods by to assure a safe, nutritious, and tasty food supply.

I'm thinking we need to get a thread going in which we explore the options. But first, perhaps, there needs to be an understanding of how food is preserved.

There are three routes to food degradation: pathogens (i.e., bacteria and viruses), molds, and enzyme action. We'll leave the last out of the discussion, because most food-preservation methods automatically handle that problem as part of their processes.

So, ok. In order to preserve food you have to 1. remove or destroy as many pathogens as possible, and, 2. more importantly, create an environment which retards their growth, or which makes their growth difficult or impossible.

Until fairly recently, retarding pathogen growth was strictly a short-term preservation method. You accomplish that by pasturization or by cooling. When Mr. Birdseye invented freezing, retardation became long-term.

Root cellering belongs under the "cooling" category, but is in a special case.

Other than that, food preservation always revolves around water. You either remove it (drying), modify it (brining), or replace it (pickling) so that it's below the level that will support pathogen growth.

Historically, here is the way food preservation developed:

Drying, and it's associated smoke curing, are the oldest intentional forms of preservation. As far back as we can trace in neolithic times, people have dried and/or smoked foods.

Salting & fermentation. Depends which authority you want to accept as to which of these came first. Genereally speaking we can say they arose at about the same time (independently in various places, btw), and, it seems, by fortuitous accident.

Fermentation can be either long-term (i.e, pickles) or short-term (i.e, cheese) preservation. Salting is always long term, and is often associated with drying. Brining is long-term only so long as the saline level is maintained.

Canning---which only dates from 1813---uses combinations of heat, acid, and vacuum to destory pathogens and prevent their further growth. It is sometimes used in conjunction with fermentation as well, for longer-term storage, or for commercial purposes.

Freezing. As noted, was the invention of Mr. Birdseye, and only dates, in practical terms, from the 1940s.

Freeze-drying is a highly technical process, dating from the 1960, and cannot be done in the home.

What I'm hoping is that those who are experienced with the various preservation methods will post directions and comments. And that others will ask questions to help guide the discussion along.

[Mama Mangia]

I've already posted a lot on drying, etc.

As far as canning goes - my advice to everyone is - get an up-to-date Ball Blue Book for all the latest techniques and times. Recipes from years ago have not changed - but canning methods have.

I've got all my notes for food preservation - if you want it.

[jglass]

Jon's sister in law was saying her Mom was helping her aunt do canning outside over a fire today.
Jon's Dad wants to try it.
I have no idea what he would need to accomplish it.

[KYHeirloomer]

The heat source for canning is irrelevent.

Only thing to watch out for is soot build-up on the kettles. Otherwise it's done exactly the same way.

Two things you'll need to think about: A ready water supply. And tables for work surfaces and to stand the jars on when they come out of the bath.

[jglass]

I have a water bath canner but he is talking about using something like a washtub.
I dont see how you can do that because green beans have to be done in a pressure canner.
I have always been kind of afraid of pressure canners so I went for the water bath canner and if I canned green beans they would be pickled.

[jglass]

Some recipes I download claim that if the jar makes the sealed pop before you waterbath them that you dont have to bother with the waterbath. Thats not true is it?

[KYHeirloomer]

An old-fashioned (but considered dangerous by today's standards) technique is called "open-kettle" canning.

That's basically what you describe. Hot food and liquid is put in hot jars. They are capped. And allowed to seal.

Because there is great potential for the entry of pathogens doing this, it is held in disrepute in the U.S.. All high-acid and sugar-preserved foods should be boiling-water bathed. And low acid foods must be pressure canned to be safe.

Many old timers believe that by boiling food for long periods you kill off any "germs." To some degree that's true. But the really dangerous bugs, the ones that cause things like botulism, require temperatures of 240F+ to be killed. No amount of boiling, I don't care if you measure it in hours, will every bring the food to that point. Heavily salted water (like to the point of sea brine) can be boiled at about 220F, which is still far too low.

Safety aside, a real problem with open-kettle canning is that the food is cooked so long that the quality is non-existent. Everything turns to mush.

It's like the old advice that canned foods should be boiled for ten minutes to destroy any toxins. Does that work? You betcha. But just imagine the result when you take a quart of green beans which have been pressure cooked for 40 minutes to begin with, and then boiled hard for another ten. I'd just as soon starve as eat that.

Anyway, to sum up: High acid and sugar-cured foods can be done outside the way you describe. But not low acid. And that most emphatically included green beans.

[KYHeirloomer]

Janie, modern pressure canners and pressure cookers are perfectly safe. They have all sorts of safety features, and automatic pressure valves, and the like.

They are not like the old ones, which could cause accidents. Plus, if you look at the literature, the incidence of such problems has been greatly overplayed. And in most cases accidents were caused by people not following instructions.

I cannot believe a gadget freak like you isn't using a pressure canner.

[jglass]

I bought a 6 quart pressure cooker a couple of years ago. I mostly wanted it to quick cook greens. For three hours before I try it I get stories from Jon about how many times his Mom had accidents with hers. Blowing the valve out of it once when she forgot to put water in it just to mention one. I used it once for greens and was a nervous wreck. I was trying to watch it and the whole time I was Jon was on the phone with one of his buddies joking he was about to die. I didnt like the way the greens came out of it anyway. It is in the cabinet and I havent used it since.
When I was making the pickles the other night several of them went ahead and sealed when I put in the hot liquid. Jon heard them and assumed since they sealed they didnt have to be water bathed. I told him I didnt think that was right. From what you guys said and what my Ball Canning book says you still need to water bath to get the temp up to kill bacteria. I still went ahead and water bathed them.
Jon's Dad...I dont know why he is obsessed with trying this outdoor tub method for the greenbeans. He usually cans them inside in the pressur canner. Last year he just froze what he wanted to keep. I made some dilly beans from what he gave me.
His stove is an accident waiting to happen. He has to smack the front of it to get the burners to work and all of the handles just spin free on it. He can well afford to get another one. He just never does. Something about it was his Mom's stove and never worked right for her either. I would be scared to go to sleep with that thing in my house if I were him.

Thanks for the info KYH.
Oh yeah..this gadget freak is on the wagon

[jglass]

Scratch the whole on the wagon thing....
You know it hardly hurt at all when I hit the ground lol.
In my defense I actually needed this one