February 7, 2022

5 Ways to Preserve Food

Fermentation

Fermentation is one of the oldest methods of preserving food. It occurs when sugars in the food are eaten by bacteria. The bacteria preserve the food and also alter its taste. More accurately, it is the by-product of the bacteria eating the sugar that preserves the food, for example alcohol in brewing beer.

Fermentation is often thought to produce foods that have health benefits, such as Kombucha

 

Fermented Foods

• Kimchi (cabbage- normally)
• Sauerkraut (cabbage)
• Sourdough
• Beer
• Wine
• Miso

 

Pickling

Often, pickling is confused with fermenting for foods, like Kimchi and sauerkraut, which is easy to see why. Kimchi and sauerkraut do in a way start off as pickling as they are placed in brine; the difference is that in pickling it is the liquid that does the preserving and not bacteria. Picking relies on a vinegar or something acidic.

Most vegetables and fruits can be pickled making it a very versatile preservation method

 

Foods to pickle:

• Peppers
• Carrots
• Beetroot
• Cucumbers
• Apples
• Plums

And so many more…

 

Drying

When you mention drying food for preservation it sounds odd and not normal but there are many common dried foods. Raisins for one are dried grapes. Supermarkets have whole sections with dried apricots, bananas and other fruits. Fruit isn’t the only thing you can dry; jerky a dried meat is very popular in many parts of the world and pretty common in the UK.

You can buy specially made dehydrating machines, but we recommend, saving money and using your oven.

Foods to Dry

• Almost any fruit
• Meat

 

Freezing

Simple and effective. Freezing is brilliant and something most people have access to. It is very versatile being used to preserve anything from fruit to meat. If you start freezing food when in season, you can have a great range of ingredients most of the year round.

 

Top things to freeze:

• Fruit that there is an abundance of before going out of season (apples, blackberries)
• Meats that won’t be eaten before the sell by date (don’t waste it freeze it for another day)
• Make a batch of too many brownies/cakes
• Soups and stocks

 

Oil

Olive oil can be used to preserve food. Some you may be familiar with a few, such as garlic oil, chili oil and sundried tomatoes. Dried tomatoes and herbs can last long in olive oil but if you use fresh fruit or herbs you must be careful and refrigerate your oil. The reason you have to refrigerate the oil is because bacteria can grow from the fruit, vegetable or herbs in your oil, which is  harmful to humans. Even after refrigerating you should still be careful about how long you use the oil for.

 

Foods to infuse your oil

• Herbs
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Chilli
• Peppers
• Fish

 

Salting and Curing

 

People do like to differentiate between the two, but I have put them together as they are both similar. Some people do not class salting as curing because curing also includes the addition of nitrate or nitrite, which helps to preserve it better and also gives cured meat the appealing colour that would otherwise be grey.

Pure salting is an old method of preservation, that was vital before refrigerators ever existed. Salting meat sometimes includes sugar to help balance the flavour.

Curing meats has become ever more popular and is an art to many who practice it. Meat can be cured for months to give a unique flavour profile. In all top restaurants now most of their steaks are dry aged to intensify flavour.

 

Foods to salt and cure

• Fish
• Meat (Chorizo, Salami etc)