Preserving food – How do you do it?

The skill of preserving food has been with us for hundreds of years and goes hand in hand with the art of good housekeeping. The preservation of foods enables us to store food for long periods of time without its quality being tainted.

There are many ways in which this can be achieved, which include:

Smoking

Drying

Freezing

Refrigerating

Pickling

Sugaring

Salting

Jellying

Bottling and canning

Vacuum packing

Stewing

Alcohol preservation

Smoking is an old fashioned way of flavouring and preserving food such as meat, fish, cheese and vegetables. The theory behind this preservation technique is that the combination of drying and hydrocarbon absorption essentially drives microbes and oxidants from the foods.

The down side to smoking as a preservation aid is that it usually only penetrates the skin and outside layers of the meat, thus, leaving the center exposed to the bacteria which causes the deterioration of the food stuff. The popularity of smoking comes from the fact that it gives the food in question a delightful aromatic taste.

TechniquesWhen smoking at home all you need is a barbecue set, water, bowl/pan and charcoal. The idea is that you smoke the food stuff, such as fish or meat using the smoke, water vapour, and indirect heat from the burning embers.

Firstly, you need to light the charcoal (it’s preferable to use a high quality charcoal for this operation). When the flames die down and the embers are beginning to fade, split the pile of charcoal into two piles using a poker or the like. The split in the charcoal is used so the pan or bowl of water can rest between these two piles, the use of water will be explained shortly.

You then need to place the meat or fish on the grill, directly in the center of the two piles, above the pan of water. It’s important to situate the food here as the vapour created from the water will ensure it doesn’t dry out, keeping it nice and tender. When you are happy with the placement, you can close the lid on the barbecue (making sure the air vents are open.

Since the temperature is all important and needs to be kept at a constant of between 125 degrees C and 150 degrees C, you’ll need to add more pieces of charcoal roughly every 60-70 minutes. When you add the extra charcoal you’ll have to make sure that the water has not evaporated too much, after all we want to keep our food nice and tender don’t we? If you feel the water level is a tad too low, add a little bit more (hot water that is).

Tips - smokingThe main tips on smoking your own food, is keep the water topped up (as mentioned above).

Don’t keep opening the lid and checking the food every five minutes, this will allow too much smoke to escape and will make it harder to keep a constant temperature.

Adding wood such as hickory can create superb flavourings; don’t hesitate to experiment with different woods to find the one that suits your palate. If you are going to experiment, start of with a small amount of wood to see if you like the aroma. It’s also handy to note that soft woods such as pine are not suitable for smoking due to their bitter taste/aroma.

The preserving food method of smoking is only really suited to hardier food such as beef, poultry, game, lamb, oily fish and pork. So make sure you stick to this list.

People initially started pickling in preserving food a out of necessity due to the lack of refrigeration conditions - rather than for the taste which is its main purpose these days.

Pickling agents usually come in four forms, brine, ethanol, vegetable oil and perhaps the most popular, vinegar. The most common way of undertaking this process is by boiling the food stuff in the pickling agent. This purpose helps the preservation fluids get deep into the food, thus making it more resistant the bacterium which causes the food to perish.

Before you start to pickle vegetables check them out for blossom end rot, this is a calcium deficiency with the vegetables, usually starting at the stem end and is charcterised by brown or black decaying. This disease will make the vegetable become soft, thus, rendering it unfit for pickling.

Generally there are two types of pickling processes in preserving food; long fermentation and unfermented. The former, as the name suggests can take months of pickling at room temperature to see an end result. Brine is normally used for this process. The former is undertaken over a shorter time scale and normally uses acid based agents such as vinegar.

How do you pickle food in vinegar?When pickling the ingredients in vinegar the following techniques should be applied.

Salt – The amount of salt needed should be 2.5 times less than the total weight of food being pickled, for example, if you want to pick 1kg (1000g) of onions then you’d need to use 0.4 kg of salt (1kg / 2.5 = 0.4kg).

Vinegar – The most important part of pickling and the generally rule of thumb is that you should use 600 ml (1.1 pints) per 1kg (2.2 pounds) of vegetables used. For example, if you need to pickle 2kg of onions then you’ll need to use 1200 milliliters (2 x 600) of vinegar.

Spices – although not a necessity you can add spices such as cloves, ginger, peppercorn, allspice to add flavour to the pickled food. You may want to experiment with quantities and spices used to get the right blend of taste for you.

The first process of vinegar based pickling is that you’ll have to wash the vegetable (unpeeled) or other food stuff and cover with the salt and pour in water, making sure the food is covered. You’ll then need to leave this to soak for roughly 48 hours, occasionally stirring the formula.

In the meantime you’ll need to prepare the containers to be used for the pickling process; these containers are usually jars and should be prepared as follows.

When you are searching for suitable jars use ones where the lid can be secured tightly, sometimes the lids for the jars may have a defect, rendering them unsuitable. You’ll also need to look for cracks, chips and general damage to the glass itself. The best size jars to be used are generally between 500g and 1kg.

You’ll need to sterilize the jars this can be done by boiling the kettle, using the boiling water to clean them; if you have a pan that is big enough you can just boil them on the stove. You’ll then rinse and dry the jars and place them in the oven to heat them up, you should put the oven on the lowest setting, usually gas mark 1, 140 degrees C, 275 degrees F).

Going back to the food in the brine (salted water) if you are using vegetables you’ll need to remove them from the brine and peel them. Place them in another pan and cover them with boiling water and place them on the side for roughly 5 minutes. This process needs to be done a few times, perhaps 2 or 3 more times. And put the food into the warm jars.

You’ll then need to place the vinegar and spices into a saucepan and bring to the boil slowly and allow to simmer for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool.

When the formula has cooled slightly, pour it into the jars containing the vegetables or other food stuff, making sure they are fully covered. You’ll then place the lids on the jars, securing the tightly. The jars should be placed in a cool, dry and dark place for 8 – 12 weeks.

How do you pickle using brine?Preserving food in brine has been with us since Roman times, and is not only used to preserve the food but too add flovour and tenderness to it.

You’ll need to use roughly 100 g of kosher salt per 3.5 liters of water, for example, if you need to use 1 liter of water you’ll need to add 28.6 g (100 / 3.5) of kosher salt.

One good tip to see if the water contains enough salt for brining is by using a fresh egg. If the egg stays afloat when placed in the water then there is enough salt. It may be a good idea to put the egg in at the start and gradually add the salt to ensure you don’t over salt the brine.

Drying as a form of food preservation has been with us for longer than anybody cares to remember, so thousands of years then. The theory behind this technique is - as the name suggests – it is a process which gradually dehydrates the food, removing water in this ways means that the reduced water slows down the breeding of bacterium, the main contributor to food perishability.

Foods which are generally treated in this way are fruits and some cereal crops such as rice or maize. Some meats can also be dried such as Parma ham and beef jerky.

How do you use drying to preserve food?There are few ways in which foods can be dried in order to preserve them. They may include sun drying, wind drying, air drying and smoking (see above).

Sun drying should only really be performed in specific climates. Where the temperature is 100 degrees F + (38 degrees C) and the air dry. If the air is too humid and the temperature too low then sun drying becomes difficult.

The ideology of this technique is that it considerably reduces the moisture within the food, which in turn makes it difficult for bacteria and mould to grow, thus the dried food will last longer. In addition it adds a new type of texture to the food itself which in some instances also enhances the flavour.

Which fruits are ideal for drying?

The following fruits are ideally suitable for the food preservation process of drying:

Apples

Apricots

Bananas

Cherries

Citrus peel

Coconut

Figs

Grapes

Nectarines

Peaches

Pears

Pineapples

Plums

Rhubarb

Tomatoes

Which vegetables are ideal for drying?

The following vegetables are ideally suitable for the food preservation process of drying:

Beets

Carrots

Garlic

Horseradish

Hot peppers

Mushrooms

Okra

Onions

Parsley

Peas

Potatoes

Pumpkin

Snap beans

Sweet corn

Sweet peppers

How do you prepare the food for the drying process?Firstly you need to make the right choices when choosing suitable fruits and vegetables for the drying process. It is ideal that you only use fresh produce for this process, as using older foods could mean that decomposition has already started.

Once you are happy with the quality of the goods you intend to dry then you must wash, peel and deseed the fruits or vegetables. After this, scour the food for any sign of damaged patches and remove any you find. When you’re happy it’s time to move on to the next step.

In order to increase the efficiency of the drying process, it is ideal that the food is cut up into ¼ inch pieces; the assumption here that the smaller the pieces the less moisture they will contain, thus they will dry out quicker.

If you are using vegetables, the fourth step in the drying procedure is to boil them in water; this step will add color and flavour to them as well as helping to eradicate those enzymes which can cause the food to decompose.

The step for drying fruit is slightly different from that of vegetables. Here most fruit can be pretreated by dunking them in a mixture of lemon juice and water; this will stop certain fruits from turning brown.

When you have done this place the fruits and/or vegetables on a rack and start drying.

Freezing in warmer climates has only been around since the invention of the fridge freezer, in colder climates such as Canada and Northern Scandinavia the art of freezing food to preserve foods has been around for thousands of years. The people in these colder regions used ice and snow to aid this process.

In recent times with the discovery of electricity along with the invention of fridge freezers, freezing is common place.

The advantage of freezing as a means of preserving food lies in the fact that it can be used to preserve a whole variety of foods, from meats and vegetables, to prepared and non-prepared food. However, it must be noted that with certain foods such as bread this procedure may taint the quality of the product slightly; such as the texture or the taste.

What is the science behind freezing when preserving food?

The science behind this food preservation practice is that the cold temperatures inhibit the growth of organisms which bring about the eventual deterioration of the product itself. Some foods can be stored for months in this state, so this food preservation practice is not only the easiest but possibly the most effective method too.

Refrigeration as a method for preserving food is - as you probably already know - is not too dissimilar to that of freezing. With this method the temperature is not set as low.

The disadvantage this technique has over freezing is that the speed of deterioration in the food is far quicker. On the upside the food itself maintains its natural flavour and textures.

Therefore using this method to preserve food is only really ideal for those foods you want to keep fresh for short periods of time, perhaps a few days to a few weeks depending on the food you are planning to store. i.e. uncooked vegetables such as lettuce will only last a few days, but uncooked meats such as bacon will last a couple of weeks

Sugaring as a method of preserving food isn’t too dissimilar to that of pickling (see above). The methodology behind this technique is that all, or as much of the moisture as is possible is removed from the food. This will limit the breeding of those organisms which cause the food to age quicker.

Once this has been done the dehydrated food is packed in pure sugar, which can come in the form of ordinary table sugar or honey, syrup or molasses.

By following this method of preserving food you are essentially placing the organisms – which speed up the perishibility of the food – in a situation which they find difficult to work their spoiling techniques in, thus the deterioration of the food is severely slowed down.

The major drawback with preserving in this manner is the fact that sugar can attract moisture, the very moisture which the spoiling organisms thrive in. therefore when you are trying out this, make sure you try your best to stop this situation from arising.

Salting as a process of preserving food has been around for hundreds of years. The reasoning behind this process is that the organisms which are involved in the deterioration of the food find it impossible to thrive. They usually die through dehydration.

What techniques can be used for salting ham?This recipe for salting ham has been around since Roman times. Ham can either be stored in large storage jars or even smaller ones. With this technique you need to build alternate levels of salt and ham, the other principle which needs to be noted here is that the individual pieces of ham must not touch each other, doing this also tells you how much salt should be placed on each level (i.e. just enough to make sure the individual pieces of ham aren’t touching). NB The first and last layers must be salt and not ham.

When you are happy with the above step, you need to put a tight, secure fitting lid on the jar. Make sure it is air tight, as air contains a certain level of moisture. You’ll need to store these jars in a cool dry place for roughly five days.

Once these five day s have lapsed remove the ham from the jars and discard the salt. You’ll then need to follow the same process again, but this time the meat which was placed on the top will need to be placed at the bottom of the pile. You’ll then store the meat in the same way, again for roughly five more days.

Once these five days have passed it’s time too move onto the next step. Remove the ham from the jars and again, discard the salt. After you have done this wipe of all the excess salt from the ham and hang in a cool dry place for another two days.

When the two days are up give the meat another quick wipe and rub them thoroughly with a vinegar and olive oil solution, then just hang them and eat at your leisure.

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