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50,000 BCE
Cooking
It's undocumented because it was such a long time ago but this was when the people of this time would cook their food as a way of preserving it or since they didn't have any way of preserving things they just ate what they cooked. -
12,000 BCE
Drying
This method was also prehistoric so its also undocumented but this was when egyptians would put their food out to dry under the sun by the Nile river and it caught on worldwide and this was a very common way of preservation. -
6000 BCE
Fermentation
Fermentation is the oxidation of carbohydrates which is done to produce a range of chemicals the most common being organic acids, alcohol and carbon dioxide which preserves the food by stopping spoilage and creating an additional flavor. -
3600 BCE
Salting and Curing
This method of preservation works by drawing the moisture out of different meats with the salt therefore making it dry and stopping bacterial growth. The salt used was a mix of sodium chloride, table salt and nitrite. -
3500 BCE
Smoking
This was a more documented way of preservation where the people would smoke their food to get rid of moisture to stop bacterial and fungal growth much like salting with the way the moisture is sucked out but this method includes smoke instead of salt. -
2400 BCE
Pickling
This was when people would put their food in jars with an acidic brine which produces a sour flavor and that keeps it from rotting away. -
Confit
Confit in the process in which meat, vegetables of fruit are slowly cooked in a liquid that is inhospitable to bacterial growth. Fruits being cooked in a syrup high in sugar and meat and vegetables in pure fat. -
Freezing
Freezing food preserves it by slowing down decomposition by turning the moisture into ice which prevents the growth of most bacteria. The first refrigerator was made by a man called William Cullen to make the method of freezing food possable. -
Canning
Canning was made by a man called Nicolas Appert, so that all sorts of foods could be put into airtight cans allowing no air in which prevents food from decomposing and perishing away which is why canned food is known as non-perishable. Back when Appert made canning they would use glass jars, put the food they were preserving into them and shut the 'lid' so it wasn't very tight. They would then dip the jar into boiling hot water and seal it shut. -
Chemicals
Safe chemicals known as GRAS are the latest method of food preservation made by a man named Robert Boyle. They were established to help keep food safe and protected from harmful artificial preservatives. -