Food preservation refers to the processes you use to prepare food for safe and long-term storage, whether you plan to use it at home, for prep in a commercial kitchen, or to sell directly to consumers.
Here are reasons why food preservation is impotant in our daily lives;
- Helps in saving money – in a commercial setting and at home waste is costly. In normal circumstances, you should avoid buying more than you can use, but various preservation methods, if done safely, help you keep vegetables, fruits, meat, etc. well, past their usual expiration so there’s no need to bin them.
- To minimise pathogenic bacteria – Bacteria only need warmth, moisture, and time to rapidly multiply in food, but food preservation inhibits one or more of these conditions and stops their growth.
- To retain the quality of the food –. In many cases, mild spoilage doesn’t make food unsafe to eat, but it significantly affects its taste, texture, and appearance. Proper food preservation can help retain some of these qualities and nutritional value of certain foods for a longer period of time because food deteriorates over time due to spoilage.
Methods of Food Preservation
there are many procedures by which we preserve food some might be simple such as refrigrating while others have complex procedures such as canning. Many are creative options that help you mix things up at home or sell food in various forms of packaging. Preservation helps in the commercial kitchen which keeps the food for much longer, which means you reduce waste and increase profit.
Below are some of the best method of preserving your food;
Freezing: frozen food can last for months, If stored properly. Bacteria cannot grow when a food is frozen. food you keep in the freezer can remain safe to eat for almost indefinite periods of time. However, it will eventually deteriorate in quality and become unappetising, so you should use most frozen food within a few months or a year.
Salting: this method help to destroy bacteria cells, In high concentrations. Salt draws water out of food and stops bacterial growth. Water diffuses between cells in the environment so that the concentration of solutes (such as salt) is the same on both sides of the cell. In very high salt solutions, many microbes will rupture due to the difference in pressure between the outside and inside of the organism. High salt can also be toxic to internal processes of microbes, affecting DNA and enzymes. Solutions high in sugar also have the same effects on microbes, which is why it is used as a preservative of foods, such as jams and jellies.
Fermenting: Food fermentation is the conversion of sugars and other carbohydrates into alcohol or preservative organic acids and carbon dioxide. All three products have found human uses. The production of alcohol is made use of when fruit juices are converted to wine, when grains are made into beer, and when foods rich in starch, such as potatoes, are fermented and then distilled to make spirits such as gin and vodka. The production of carbon dioxide is used to leaven bread. The production of organic acids is exploited to preserve and flavor vegetables and dairy products.
Sun-Drying: Drying food can prevent moisture from accumulating, reducing the risk of bacteria growth. So, on a sunny day, take out your fruits. Then bring the food inside overnight and cover it. Grains can also be sun-dried. Many farmers use this technique for post-harvest management. Then the grains are sometimes brought to a storage facility.
Smoking: Smoking is another important method of food preservation. Formerly, after the hunt, hunters smoked large amounts of the meat for easier transport back home, and also to preserve it. It was common to smoke game meat, while domestic animals were often consumed fresh after slaughtering. Smoking fish is still a very important method of preserving fish, used all over the continent.
