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Jewish World Review How food preservation works By Marshall Brain http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT) Because food is so important to our survival, food preservation is one of the oldest technologies used by human beings. Even though we see and use many of these technologies every day, we often don't realize how interesting they are. So let's take a look at some of the food preservation technologies that you can find in your home today. But first a quick word about why food spoils. The basic process is very simple: bacteria invade the food and cause it to rot. Food preservation technology therefore comes in two different forms. Either the technology is trying to slow down the activity of disease-causing bacteria, or it is trying to kill the bacteria altogether and sterilize the food. A food that is sterile contains no bacteria. Unless sterilized and sealed, all food contains bacteria. The food preservation technology that we are most familiar with is the refrigerator. It takes the "slow bacteria down" approach. For example, bacteria naturally living in milk will spoil the milk in a few hours if the milk is left out on the kitchen counter at room temperature. By putting the milk in the refrigerator you don't eliminate the bacteria already there, but you do slow down the bacteria enough that the milk will stay fresh for a week or two. The same holds true for fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. that you keep refrigerated. In the case of freezing, the idea is to stop bacterial action altogether. Frozen bacteria are completely inactive, so frozen food lasts for months. In general, refrigeration has no effect on a food's taste or texture. Freezing has little effect on the taste or texture of most meats, but often completely changes fruits (which become mushy). Refrigeration's minimal effects account for its huge popularity. Before there were refrigerators, canning was king. Since 1825 or so, canning has provided a way for people to store foods for extremely long periods of time. In canning, you boil the food in the can to kill all the bacteria and seal the can (either before or while the food is boiling) to prevent any new bacteria from getting in. Since the food in the can is completely sterile, it does not spoil. Once you open the can, bacteria enter and begin attacking the food, so you have to "refrigerate the contents after opening." You see that label on all sorts of food products - it means that the contents are sterile until you open the container. One problem with canning, and the reason why refrigeration or freezing is preferred to canning, is that the act of boiling food in the can changes its taste and texture. Many foods are dehydrated to preserve them. If you walk through any grocery store you may notice the following dehydrated products: Powdered milk, dehydrated potatoes in a box, dried fruits and vegetables, dried meats (like beef jerky), powdered soups and sauces, dried pasta, etc. Since most bacteria die or become completely inactive when dried, dried foods kept in air-tight containers can last quite a long time. Freeze-drying is a special form of drying. Food is frozen and placed in a strong vacuum. The water in the food then sublimates - that is, it turns straight from ice into vapor. Freeze-drying is most commonly used to make instant coffee, but also works extremely well on fruits such as apples. Salting, especially of meat, is an ancient preservation technique. The salt draws out moisture and creates an environment inhospitable to bacteria. If salted in cold weather (so that the meat does not spoil while the salt has time to take effect), salted meat can last for years. You can read about salt's use during the sailing voyages around the time of Columbus. Many accounts of the Revolutionary War and especially the Civil War talk about meat preserved in this way. Today, salting is still used to create salt-cured "country ham" found widely in the southern United States, and dried beef (which you can buy in jars at most grocery stores). Pickling was widely used to preserve meats, fruits and vegetables in the past, but today is used almost exclusively to produce "pickles," or pickled cucumbers. Pickling uses the preservative qualities of salt combined with the preservative qualities of acid, such as acetic acid (vinegar). Acid environments inhibit bacteria. To make pickles, cucumbers are soaked in a 10-percent salt water brine for several days, then rinsed and stored in vinegar to preserve them for years. Then there are the chemical preservatives. Things like Benzoates (such as sodium benzoate), Nitrites (such as sodium nitrite), antioxidants like BHT and BHA, and Sulphites (such as sulphur dioxide). If you look at the ingredient labels of different foods, you will frequently see these different types of chemicals used. These chemicals often have more of an effect on color and texture than they do on bacteria activity. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Comment by clicking here. Previously: How beer works How holding your breath works How smoke detectors work How heat pumps work How your night vision works How concentrating solar collectors work How your key fob works How the common cold works How the Large Hadron Collider Works How making a TV show works How dry cleaning works How exoskeletons work How an oil refinery works How landfills work How the Orion spacecraft works The cutting edge in HDTV Redefining the CD How the HDMI cable scam works How glow-in-the-dark toys work How the subprime mortgage crisis works How gift cards work How Tasers work How giant TV screens work How foreclosure works How Air Force One works How wildfire fighting works How vitamins work How ejection seats work How reattaching limbs works How hot air balloons work How paparazzi work How counterfeiting works How CDs work How the Edsel worked How Stinger missiles work How hybrid cars work How sharks work How mosquitoes work How diesel engines work How water towers work How the Dawn mission works How Kassam rockets work How the North American Eagle works Why aren't we flying to work? How tofu and soy milk work How Colony Collapse Disorder works How airbags work How the U.S. income tax works How gum works How caffeine works How Daylight Saving Time works How a cruise missile works How snow making works © 2007, How Stuff Works Inc. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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