{"id":22553,"key":"Food_preservation_and_storage","title":"Food preservation and storage","latest":{"id":1245974,"timestamp":"2026-05-04T14:19:52Z"},"content_model":"wikitext","license":{"url":"https://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:Copyrights","title":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"source":"[[File:Habaneros drying for further preservation.jpg|thumb|Habaneros drying for further preservation.]]\n\nPreserving and storing foods reduces reliance on long-distance transported food and the market industry. Home-grown foods can be preserved and stored outside of their growing season and continually consumed throughout the year, enhancing self-sufficiency and independence from the supermarket. Food can be preserved and saved by dehydration (e.g. solar food drying, freezing, vacuum packing, canning, bottling, pickling and jellying.<ref>Ciperthwaite, Wm. ''A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity''. New York: Chelsea Green, 2004.</ref>\n\nFood preservation is inseparable from where the food is stored. The '''storage of food''' is done in a suitable environment. This often means a dry, cool place. There are several places in which food can be stored. These include Food storage rooms as pantry's (rooms in the house, near the kitchen) or separate food storage rooms (ie above ground, earth bermed, or even underground (ie [[root cellar]]s; store rooms, even mere burial is possible)). As such, at least 1 food storage technique is often employed (cooling). The following list describes the food preservation techniques we can use:\n\n* [[Drying]] and [[Food Drying with Superheated Steam|drying with superheated steam]]\n* Liquifying\n* Sugaring (includes covering with sugar, making jam/jelly from fruit, etc)\n* [[Pickling]]/[[Chutneyfication]]\n* [[Curing]] (salting or brining)\n* [[Cold smoking]] (note that this requires curing as a first step)\n* Adding of other (artificial) food additives\n* [[Canning]] and Home canning\n* [[Biopreservation]] (ie keeping animals alive or using bacteria, ie fermentation)\n* Stewing, jugging and hot smoking (techniques allowing preserving food for a limited duration)\n* [[Vacuum packing]], [[bottling]] and packing in a modified atmosphere (ie ULO)\n* [[Refrigerating food|Refrigerating]] and Freezing\n* [[Irradiation of food|Irradiation]]\n* Nonthermal plasma (treating the food surface with ionised gas molecules)\n* High pressure processing of food<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascalization Pascalization or high pressure processing (HPP)]</ref>\n* Pulsed electric field electroporation<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroporation Pulsed electric field electroporation]</ref>\n\nIt should be noted however that each foodstuff is more suitable to one or another type of food storage (not all types are suitable for every foodstuff). Tuberous root crops for example are best stored in a moist environment (as these crops are still alive and able to take up water). They can be buried in buckets filled with wet sand and stored below (see \"root cellar\") or above ground (ie during winter). As each food storage technique requires special equipment, the crops grown in each community are best selected carefully so that as little as possible different storage techniques are needed (hence allowing more cost-effective food storage).\n\n== Examples ==\n\n[[File:Vegetables in water.jpg|thumb|Many vegetables preserve well in water and can serve as decorative plants until eaten.]]\n\n* Canned vegetables and canned beans\n* Bulk dried foods such as flour, milk powder, soya powder, whole grains (brown rice, white rice,...)\n* Noodles<ref>[http://www.chow.com/food-news/54453/how-long-can-dried-pasta-be-stored/ Shelf-life of dried pasta/noodles being 2 years]</ref>\n* jam (cooked, sugared fruit, with chunks of fruit, pulp) & jelly (cooked, sugared fruit, strained)\n* Alcoholic beverages as wine, mead, beer, spirits,...\n* Frozen fish/seafood/meat analogues (tofu, seitan, tempeh)/eggs, frozen vegetables\n* Dried fruit and nuts\n* Tea and coffee (unground)\n\n== See also ==\n\n* [[Making yoghurt and cheese]] (a method to preserve milk)\n* Making milk powder (another method to preserve milk)\n* [[Making wine, beer and mead]] (a method to fruit, grain, honey)\n\n== References ==\n\n<references />\n\n== External link ==\n\n* <nowiki>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food</nowiki> preservation\n* [https://permies.com/f/97/food-preservation Food Preservation Forums] at [https://permies.com Permies.com]\n* [https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Low-cost,_tropical,_private_food_production_system An example on how to combine crops, taking the food storage techniques/equipment into account]\n\n{{Page data\n| license = CC-BY-SA-3.0\n| description = Preserve food the sustainable way. Appropedia shares methods that cut waste, build self-reliance, and keep food fresh year-round.\n}}\n\n[[Category:Food preserving]]\n[[Category:Food storage]]\n[[Category:Food]]"}