The Vatel hotel and Tourism Business School, Sushant University, Gurgaon enjoys academic collaboration with the Vatel of France which is the Number One hospitality institute located in Lyon, France. This is where the students get to work on their own and conduct researches in the field of their choice. This article talks about the study they did recently on conservation and preservation of food, something which is of a very high cost and should be handled professionally at all costs.
Food preservation procedures include those that limit the growth of germs like yeasts (although other methods work by adding harmless bacteria or fungus to the food) and reduce the oxidation of lipids that produce rancidity. Processes that prevent aesthetic deterioration, such as the enzymatic browning reaction in apples after they are chopped during meal preparation, are examples of food preservation. Food waste can be decreased by preserving food, which is an important approach to lower production costs and improve food system efficiency, improve food security and nutrition, and contribute to environmental sustainability.
Many food preservation systems combine many food preservation methods. Boiling (to lower the fruit’s moisture content and kill bacteria, for example), sugaring (to inhibit re-growth), and sealing in an airtight container are all steps in the process of preserving fruit by converting it into jam (to prevent recontamination).
The quality of food and food systems is affected differently by different food preservation technologies. When compared to modern techniques of food preservation, several old methods have been demonstrated to have a lower energy input and carbon footprint. Some food preservation procedures are known to produce carcinogens. Processed meat, defined as meat that has been salted, cured, fermented, or smoked, was classed as “carcinogenic to humans” by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015.
Ancient tribes all across the world discovered and consciously devised food preservation techniques long before written history, including cooling, freezing, boiling, drying, salting, smoking, pickling, and sugaring. These approaches have proven to be so effective that they are still used today, often with the aid of modern technology. Food historians think that food preservation, along with agriculture, allowed human communities to form once food supplies could be safely kept in bulk, reducing the need to hunt and gather for nourishment on the move.
Temperature Control: Cooling, Freezing, and Boiling
Fortunate as we are today with refrigerators and slow cookers, many ancient cultures exploited natural resources as their own highly effective forms of temperature control over food:
Cooling
Early people discovered that keeping certain foods cool could prevent them from rotting by simple observation of nature. Food is preserved by chilling it, which slows the growth and reproduction of microbes as well as the action of enzymes that cause the food to decay. Meat and seafood were frequently stored in rushing water, such as creeks or tiny waterfalls, by hunters and fishermen. Foods were transported from caves to structures expressly constructed for their cooler settings, such as root and fruit cellars, as dwellings developed.
Freezing
Hunters and gatherers found that burying food directly under and in touch with snow and ice would keep it safe throughout the winter in frigid climates. In certain cultures, complex ice homes were built to keep food frozen for up to a year.
Boiling
On the other end of the temperature spectrum, extreme heat protects food by killing bacteria, especially when boiled in a liquid like milk or water. For this reason, the community stew pot became a permanent fixture on the fire: any hazardous microorganisms in the items added to the mix would be destroyed in the bubbling broth.
Curing Meat: Drying, Salting, and Smoking
Drying
Simple dehydration using the sun or wind was the earliest way of curing meat to extend its edible life, dating back to 12,000 BC in the Middle East. The Romans developed the skill of drying fruit much later, and European monks in the Middle Ages erected “still houses” to dry vegetables and herbs in areas where sunlight and winds were scarce.
Smoking
Antimicrobial compounds that aid in preservation were added to smoking procedures, which improved on natural drying processes. Particles in the smoke, known as phenols, are placed directly in the meat, offering not just flavour but also protection. After hanging meat in caverns where they had created fires for light and warmth, early cave dwellers may have discovered the benefits of smoking meat by accident.
Salting
Early societies discovered that salt, which was vital for existence in areas with extensive salt resources, such as ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), was also a natural preservative. The Romans were famed for their salted meals once more, and salt was even utilised as a kind of currency. Although they were unaware that hazardous microorganisms require moisture to exist, they were aware that salt-dried meat lasted far longer than fresh meat and had no adverse consequences.
Fermentation: Pickling and Sugaring
Fermentation is one of the most inventive methods of food preservation. Why? Because, in the course of improving food safety, it also generated cheese, pickles, jam, wine, and beer, all of which have become staples in many different cuisines around the world. These foods and beverages fight spoiling by utilising benign microorganisms that keep pathogens at bay by creating acid or alcohol, which creates a poisonous environment in which they die. Pickling and sugaring are two of the most common types of fermentation.
Pickling
Bacteria in the liquid produce lactic acid, which functions as a preservative in fermentation pickling. The preserving agent in chemical pickling is an edible liquid that inhibits or kills bacteria and other microorganisms (e.g. salt water, vinegar, alcohol). Pickling may have begun when food was soaked in sour wine or beer, which gave it an attractive flavour. More than 3,000 years ago, Indians were the first people in Asia to create cucumber pickles. Catfish, salmon, and goose were pickled by the ancient Egyptians. Vinegar brines were used to pickle proteins such as eggs, rabbit, venison, and goat by the Chinese.
Sugaring
Food preservation in honey or sugar cane condensed liquid was known to the oldest cultures. Sugar dehydrates and kills microorganisms by drawing water from them in a process known as plasmolysis. Sugaring was a particularly popular method of preserving fruits, as evidenced by the jams and jellies on grocery shelves today. The use of hot sugar and fruit pectin as an emulsifier was perfected by the ancient Greeks and Romans. This method soon expanded to northern Europe, where sunshine is sometimes too weak or infrequent for dried fruits, thus they were turned into “preserves.”
Preserving Food, Preserving Culture
From pasteurisation to probe thermometers, all kinds of modern technology dramatically enhanced food safety with the emergence of the scientific and industrial revolutions, as we’ll discover in Part 2. Traditional methods, on the other hand, are still used in kitchens around the world, owing to the fact that they have preserved not just our health but also our traditions. Smoking and drying, as well as salting and sugaring, have been inextricably linked to certain culinary tastes, religious meanings, and ethnic identities. The preservation of food and the preservation of culture are inextricably linked.
