Can It! Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods Gary Allen For Karen, my enabler-in-chief Published by Reaktion Books Ltd Unit 32, Waterside 44–48 Wharf Road London n1 7ux, uk www.reaktionbooks.co.uk First published 2016 Copyright © Gary Allen 2016 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers Printed and bound in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library isbn 978 1 78023 572 1 Contents Introduction 7 1 Perils 15 2 Ancient Preserving Methods 28 3 Modern Preserving Methods 43 4 Major Ingredients 67 5 Geography 161 6 Beyond the Main Course 180 Afterword 230 Timeline 233 References 237 Bibliography 243 Other Resources 249 Acknowledgements 251 Photo Acknowledgements 253 Index 254 CAN IT! £  Introduction H umans are not the only species that saves food for leaner times. Some animals simply build up their fat reserves. Some hide their surplus food in places where they can access them later. Only a small number of species alter their food in some way to prevent spoilage. Bees, the prime example, par- tially dehydrate the nectar of flowers, then preserve it by sealing it in wax. However, though we may not be the only food-preserving species, we certainly preserve more food, in more diverse ways, than any other. We have always faced the alternating problems of food scarcity and seasonal over-abundance. Our hunter-gatherer forebears tracked their foods, collecting whatever was available in the lands they moved through before travelling on to the next location. They collected wild grass seeds (the ancestors of our corn, wheat, barley and rice), or annual runs of shad or salmon, or a huge variety of fruits, berries and roots. Everything they ate was in season and locally grown. Most was consumed on the spot because – other than easily dried grains and legumes – their foods were perishable. Even if they had storable food, carrying it on their nomadic forays was inconvenient. Later, when agriculture and the domestication of food plants and animals made surpluses possible, food storage for civilizations – large groups Small jars with of people living together in something like cities – became a necessity. jams for tasting at a market. This biblical story recalls the early days of agricultural dependence: 7 CAN IT! Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well- favoured kine and fat-fleshed; and they fed in a meadow. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and lean-fleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. And the ill-favoured and lean-fleshed kine did eat up the seven well-favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke (Genesis 41:1–7). Fortunately, Joseph interpreted Pharoah’s dreams, and established storage facilities for reserving the agricultural output of the good years so that, when the inevitable famine came, ‘in all the land of Egypt there was bread.’ Pharoah’s sufficiently stocked storehouses even permitted exports to less prudent nations. Such long-term food storage required the development of food preservation tech- niques, and these techniques helped the ancients to achieve what we are still trying to do today: conquer time. We slow or stop the processes that cause decay and loss, and we have discovered how to surmount long distances, allowing perishable foods to travel fur- ther than would otherwise be possible. While Moses – or whoever wrote the biblical passage – never specified the techniques used, we know that the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians were already using salt to dry and save foods. Joseph’s story is, in essence, a par- able about the necessity of food preservation in the ancient world. Today, many of us eschew food that is neither fresh nor local. We imagine that such foods have diminished nutrition and taste, and waste energy in processing and transportation. In some cases, these suspicions are justified, but not always. As Mark Bittman asks: I’ve long wondered how producing a decent ingredient, one that you can buy in any supermarket, really hap- pens. Take canned tomatoes, of which I probably use 100 pounds a year. It costs $2 to $3 a pound to buy hard, 