Food Preservation without Ice or Cans Quiz

Answer: Sugar

Victorian jams and jellies were about 1:1 sugar and fruit. That's not exactly diabetic-friendly or low-cal, but the sugar made the product so sweet it discouraged bacteria. The fruit was usually cooked and that may have sterilized the container in a rudimentary sort of way, but jelly with just paper lain over the top, kept at room temperature, survived well enough, thanks to all that sugar.

Answer: Salt

Salt pork was made by putting cuts of hog in a barrel full of salt, or very salty brine. The meat absorbed the salt completely, and when the barrel was opened, one hoped that a grayish, but sweet-smelling edible meat was withdrawn. I say "hoped," because government contractors sometimes skimped on salt to make more profit when filling military contracts.

But carefully made at butchering time when the weather was cool, and stored in the cellar, salt pork was/is quite good. It's extremely salty, but the salt can be removed by parboiling it and changing the water, then stewing, frying, or cooking like fresh pork. Soldiers or farm laborers who had been marching or working in the heat all day and sweating madly were probably glad to taste the extra salt and didn't mind.

Answer: Acidity

Pickles were made two ways: putting the veggies in vinegar, or putting them in a salt brine and making fermented pickles. Either way, the goal was to keep them in an acid solution too strong to allow bacteria to grow. Vinegar is obviously acidic, but fermented pickles are a bit more complicated.

The brine creates an environment so salty that only certain healthful bacteria can grow, and as they grow, they create acid. Eventually the brine is too acidic and the bacteria die, but they've done their job.

The salt protected the veggies first, and now the acid keeps them safe. But if you don't like strong flavors, you might want to rinse them off a bit first, because they're stronger than modern pickles. They don't need canned or refrigerated, though. Just let them live in their brine in a big barrel. One will sometimes see a pickle barrel in a store in a movie set in the Old West.

Answer: Drying

Jerking meat worked best on low-fat meat, just the kind that hunters would find on wild animals, rather than barnyard-fattened cows. Lowfat meat was cut in thin strips so it would dry quickly and hung on an easily built wooden frame to dry. Cool weather, such as fall hunting season, worked best.

There were two main risks during the drying: flies laying eggs, and spoilage due to slow drying time. Both could be solved by keeping a low fire going under the meat. The smoke chased away flies, and the extra warmth kept the meat from spoiling and drove the moisture out faster. Jerked meat could be made without salt, but the result was even more sure to keep if first soaked in salt or other spices. That meant carrying salt around on the hunting trip--possible, certainly, but one more bit of weight.

Answer: The vegetables were still alive

Biennial plants store their nutrients over their first winter, then use the nutrients to produce seed their second summer and die. But they're meant to stay alive one winter, and if kept in the right conditions, they do. Some don't mind being frozen, like parsnips and salsify, but most need dug up and kept in a cellar that stays above 32 degrees F (0 degrees C), or at least heaped high with straw if kept outside, to keep the earth around them from freezing.

They also can't dry out. A box of damp sand in the cellar will do, or even just a moist cellar.

They also need protected from bugs, which aren't as much of a problem in winter, but sand burial can help. Some things, like onions, want to be kept dry, so can be hung in the house where the fire dries things out. Even cabbage heads can be kept fresh in the cellar, with just the few outer leaves looking yellow and tired, but they can be pulled off to reveal a crisp head beneath.

Answer: Salt

When I was little, I tried to find the corn. But corn also meant grain in the 19th century, and coarse grains of salt rubbed over the beef kept it from going bad. A brine with molasses and other spices added made it taste especially good, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate) kept it looking an appetizing red and preserved it even more.

The only problem was how tough salt beef got, compared to salt pork which stayed tender. Pressing salt beef and slicing it very thin solved some of the problem, so corned beef works better sliced thin on a sandwich than stewed as a roast.

Answer: False

Sauerkraut is really just pickled shredded cabbage. Made with a strong enough acidity, it can be kept in a barrel. But it's such a good food in its own right, that companies still make it and sell it today, canning it for convenience and so they can use a less strong flavor, even though we can buy fresh cabbage year round.

Answer: Soaking in a sugar solution, then drying

All those answers would keep food from spoiling, but none would give the sweet result of candying. A warm sugar solution penetrates the food, then drying means it can be stored in a jar and nibbled on for a treat, or used as cake decorations or goodies baked in cakes.

Answer: Yes

Stale bread was so common, there were dozens of uses: grate into breadcrumbs for thickenings or toppings; break or slice into croutons for soup; soften by soaking in warm milk or boiling water and serve to invalids, maybe flavored with lemon or nutmeg; make bread pudding, with many variations of sauces. Stale bread did more than feed ducks.

Answer: salting and drying

Bacon and ham went through similar processes. First, the meat was soaked in brine, so the salt could act as a preservative. Other herbs, chemicals and flavorings might be added too. Next, it was taken out and dried over a low smokey fire, to keep away bugs and prevent spoilage.

At last, it was hung up wrapped in cloth, or packed in ashes, or stored some way to keep the bugs off while it finished drying and waited to be eaten. Hams were kept in the shape they were cut from the hog, and bacon too, so a side of bacon was rectangular, a few inches thick, and was sliced thin just before use.