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Food Storage -- Common Food Preservation Techniques

localwork | Sep 2, 2010 |

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Food preservation techniques are incredibly important to us because without them we would have no way to keep food from going bad very quickly. Food is one of our most basic necessities and being able to preserve it for long periods of time ensures that our short- and long-term food storage will not go to waste because it is no longer eatable.

There are two main things that food preservation does. First, it can kill off disease causing bacteria that ultimately cause food to go back. Secondly, it can slow down bacteria so that the bacteria do not spoil or damage the food too quickly. Some of the most common food preservation techniques are freezing, refrigerating, dehydrating, freeze drying, and canning. Preservation techniques can be used to increase the shelf life of food storage that is being used for emergency preparedness or for daily eating.

Freezing
Freezing is a simple process that we are all familiar with. It is used for short-term food storage purposes. It keeps foods that would spoil in on the shelf or in the refrigerator good for a longer period of time. It does this simply by freezing the bacteria so that it cannot attack the food.

Refrigerating
Refrigerating is another process that most of us use daily. It is also a short-term food storage option. Refrigerating will not stop bacteria from affecting food and it does not kill bacteria. Refrigerating slows down the bacteria so that it cannot damage and spoil food too quickly.

Dehydrating
Dehydrating is a drying process that draws out the majority of moisture from particular foods. Dehydrated foods are often used for food storage purposes because they can have an incredibly long shelf life, but other dehydrated foods are eaten as daily snacks. Dehydrating alters the original state of the food, and many times an entirely new product is create. One good example of this is beef jerky. It it very different from regular beef.

Freeze Drying
Freeze drying is often done using a flash freezing process that also draws out the vast majority of the food's water content. Top food storage companies sell pre-made freeze dried meals that taste gourmet. Freeze dried food storage is highly popular because freeze drying retains all of the food's original characteristics--from taste and aroma to texture and nutritional content. It can also be stored at room temperature and will not go bad for an incredibly long time.

Canning
Canning is a preservation process that we have been using since the early 1800s. It is still used often today as homeowners enjoy being able to buy foods that can sit on a shelf and not go bad for a long period of time. Canned foods are typically boil before being canned to kill all of the bacteria. Once opened, most canned and even jarred food is susceptible to bacteria again. Hence, the refrigerate after opening line that you often see on cans and jars.