What Are the Best Ways To Preserve Foods?

Food preservation is a survival tactic humanity has learned throughout the ages. There was a time before refrigeration, after all! Today, we rely on several methods to preserve meals and ingredients for later. So, what are the best ways to preserve foods? Read on to learn more about this useful skill.

Freezing Your Food

One of the most tried-and-true forms of preservation is freezing your food. If you have one available, you can use your freezer to preserve fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables for later use.

Salting and Brining Meats

For ages, people have preserved their meats by using salt and salt-based brines. By doing this, the meat can last for days to weeks longer than it would raw and in the ambient air. You can still witness this preservation method at certain fish markets where they will display the fish on salt for the same purpose.

Using Concentrations for Preservation

There are many different methods for using concentrations to preserve ingredients. One of the more common is through brining or pickling your foods. These methods will help you keep your foods fresh and safe to eat, though the process will impart the concentration you preserved the ingredients in onto the food. Salt is another tool for preserving foods, as a thorough salt coating will allow you to keep meats and vegetables for long periods.

Drying Ingredients

Moving even further into preservation is the method of drying foods. You can do this with virtually any ingredient, and dried foods will last an exceptionally long period without spoiling. Once you remove the air from the food, it will harden, changing the eating experience. You can use a similar method known as dry storage to keep onions fresh longer and preserve many other ingredients.

These are some of the best ways to preserve foods so that you can keep yourself well-fed year-round without having anything spoil. Having this cooking skill allows you to limit waste and increase nourishment.