Higher-Ground-Farm

Methods for preserving food

When you preserve foods at home, it gives you the opportunity to stock a range of different foods that will stay good for a long time. Of course, you can buy foods that have already been preserved, but many of the industrial preservation methods employ the use of chemical preservatives or techniques that can impact the quality of the food. With many of the traditional and natural food preservation methods, you can preserve your own healthy foods that will be of a much better quality than those that have been treated by industrial processes.

Freezing

Storing the food at a freezing temperature is one of the best methods for food preservation. At low temperatures, the growth of bacterial life is inhibited and when these temperatures drop below freezing, the growth is effectively stopped altogether. Many foods can be frozen as they are and some may require a level of preparation. Any time that you freeze food for preservation, you will want to store the food in sealed containers. This will help to prevent the frost damage that can occur when foods are frozen. Additionally, you want to get the foods into the freezer as soon as possible. For uncooked food, this should be when the food is as fresh as possible and for food that is cooked, you will want to freeze it as soon as you can after it has been prepared.

Dehydrating

Drying the food out is one of the oldest preservation methods known to man and it is still used today because it is an effective way to protect foods against spoilage while also maintaining the nutrient content. With dehydrating, the idea is to extract enough of the moisture to where the food cannot support microbial life.

You have a few options when it comes to dehydrating food, but the basic principle is that you want to expose it to a temperature that will remove the moisture, but not a temperature that is high enough to actually cook the food. The traditional method for dehydration was to use the heat from the sun, but the best results will come from dehydrating the food in an oven or by using a dehydrator.

Canning

With canning, you have another great method for preserving food. The basic idea behind canning is that you expose the food to high temperatures to kill the bacteria and then seal the food in jars that are specifically made for canning. There are different processes for canning different foods and it is very important that the foods are canned properly. If foods are improperly canned, then it could cause sickness in the people that consume the canned product. However, there are some canning methods that are fairly simple and most people should be able to perform the task correctly.

Preserving food at home can provide the individual with a lot of benefits that they will not get from foods that are preserved under industrial processes. Along with the three methods that are mentioned in the article, there are other home preservation techniques like smoking, curing and fermentation that can be employed. The important thing in regard to food preservation is to make sure that you complete the process in the correct way to protect the quality of the food and to ensure that it is safe to eat.