History of food preservation during ancient times

Food processing dates back to the prehistoric age when crude processing including various types of cooking, such as over fire, smoking, steaming, fermenting, sun drying and preserving with salt were in practice. Foods preserved this way were a common part of warriors’ and sailors’ diets.

Ancient people adopted different preservation methods to store excess foods of plant and animal origin, particularly those which are seasonal and have a short lifespan.

The Romans were particularly fond of any dried fruit they could make. In the Middle Ages “still houses” were purposely built to dry fruits, vegetables, and herbs in areas that did not have enough strong sunlight for drying.

Hippocrates described sauerkraut (preserved cabbage) as a health food and medicinal remedy in his writing. The Romans have also valued the beneficial effect of sauerkraut.

Plinius the Elder is said to have been the first who described the production of sauerkraut by preservation of so-called salt cabbage in earthen vessels in Italy in the first century AD.

The earliest recorded instances of food preservation date back to ancient Egypt and the drying of grains and subsequent storage in seal silos. Egyptians perfected a number of food preservation techniques over the ages. They preserved cheese, cereals, fruit, legumes, vegetables (including dark green leafy vegetables), fish, meat, grains, aromatic seeds and condiments.

Fermentation, oil packing, pickling, salting, and smoking are all ancient preservation technologies.
History of food preservation during ancient times 

Chinese history on food preservation

Food preservation methods such as drying, smoking, freezing, marinating, salting and pickling had their beginnings thousands of years ago. The Chinese reportedly preserved vegetables by fermentation in prehistoric times.

The Chinese also used salted fish in their diets. Fermented sausages were prepared and consumed by the people of ancient China as far back as 1500 BC. The Chinese Confucian Analects of 500 BC warned against consumption of sour rice, spoiled fish or eating flesh, food kept too long or insufficiently cooked food.

Fermented vegetables

The Chinese have cultivated rice, millet, sorghum, and other crops for many millennia and they established the sophisticated preservation techniques of salting and fermenting many vegetables, seafood and grains to preserving them.

Many of these techniques are still part of the Chinese culinary repertoire and sauces (soy sauce, oyster sauce, black bean sauce, etc) and other condiments often are produced using these methods today.

Throughout Chinese history fermented vinegar was added to food. Pickling food in vinegar is one of the traditional techniques of food-preservation, and the presence of salt in vinegar frequently enhances the preservative effects.
Chinese history on food preservation