From overshopping to extra cooking, many fruits and vegetables feel left on the countertops and eventually start spoiling. Aside from the wastage of food, the spoilage of food1 also leaves great effects on the environment like unpleasant smells and harmful gases. Preserving food2 is a technique to save up the food without getting spoiled for the next few days until they are cooked or eaten.
Food preservation is not just a technique, it’s an art, that cannot be learned easily but a practice of observing food as every food type has a different nature and timings of spoiling. So, along with the ways you follow to preserve the food, you also need to observe which food remains good with which preservation technique and know the time for which the food will remain intact to consume. Further, mentioned below are several ways to preserve food at home.
1. Canning
Canning3 is the method to stop the oxygen reaction with the food as when opened food comes in contact with oxygen, it begins spoiling. Also, always ensure that the cans you are using must be of good quality, which means they are air-tight and their metal quality should be good enough not to react with salt inside it if there is. However, there are specific jars available in the market, which are mainly designed for preserving food via canning – so you don’t need to worry about what can to use.
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2. Do not let the cheese stay in the plastic wrap, it came in
Rather than leaving the cheese in the plastic wrap it came in, it’s better to re-wrap it with a cheese paper, so it can breathe in a little air and stay fresh for a longer time instead of placing it in air-tight containers. As I already said every food has a different nature, so the prevention of oxygen can’t be applied for each type of food.
3. Vacuum Packing
Vacuum packing4 is a good alternate method other than using airtight containers to preserve food. In this technique, the aim is again to stop the oxygen from getting in contact with the food. Now, you must be thinking what makes vacuum packing an effective approach than canning? Well, it’s the fact that here you don’t need to add extra ingredients like salt or sugar to preserve the food item and this way also helps you preserve the food quality.
4. Keep the lemons in the refrigerator
Lemons packed in a sealed plastic bag are likely to stay fresh and edible for a longer time than the lemons kept on the countertops. So, after keeping it in a sealed bag, place the bag in the fridge to preserve lemons.
5. Freezing
Freezing is a great technique to preserve food like meat, which starts spoiling if not cooked earliest after buying. However, freezing inhibits bacteria growth, which is extremely common and fast, especially in meats. One thing to remember here is the temperature, which must be between -18 to -22 degrees Celsius. Also, food like berries, bananas, and cooked leftovers can be frozen to keep them safe.
6. Salting
Salting5 is another way to prevent food spoilage as it lowers the amount of water present in the food, which contributes to the spoiling of food. Adding salt to foods like fatty meat, pickles, smoked fish, and some kinds of cheeses can help preserve food.
- Gram, Lone, et al. “Food spoilage—interactions between food spoilage bacteria.” International journal of food microbiology 78.1-2 (2002): 79-97. ↩︎
- Rahman, Mohammad Shafiur. “Food preservation: an overview.” Handbook of food preservation (2020): 7-18. ↩︎
- Lucci, Paolo, et al. “Canning: Impact on food products quality attributes.” Food Processing Technologies. CRC Press, 2016. 41-60. ↩︎
- Mohan, C. O. (2017). Vacuum packaging & MAP. ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology. ↩︎
- Jones, Winifred. “Preservation of Vegetables by Salting and Pickling.” Bulletin/Texas Agricultural Extension Service; no. 131. (1943). ↩︎
Last Updated on by Namrata
