During Medieval times, there were obviously not a lot of options regarding preserving food and keeping it from contaminating. Because individuals did not have the benefits of electricity, microwaves, and refrigerators, there were other methods that they had to use to keep their meals from spoiling.
Because many did not have constant access to nourishment, they had to find ways to preserve what they had for longer so that they could eat it at a later date. Society survived mostly through agriculture and crops; most people had some system of growing their own food and trading their products with others.
Farmers valued the ability to keep these products for later to guard against famine, war, and drought. Many individuals today still practice this type of food storage by keeping extra items stored away in case of emergency.
There are plenty of companies that offer freeze-dried, dehydrated, and canned options for those that wish to put things aside for later. However, in the past, individuals had to perform this process themselves.
Almost every food that individuals ate could be preserved for a certain amount of time; it just depended on the type and how much there was of it. Fruits and vegetables that were not in season had to be preserved, as did meats that were hard to come by.
In fact, some regions were unable to eat certain things or meals in their original form, because they were not even available to those that lived there. One important method that was used frequently was drying.
Moisture allows for bacteria to grow more rapidly than when an object is absent of its liquid compositions. All fresh foods have some kind of moisture or substance in them that may cause them to decay somewhat quickly.
In other words, food that is wet and left in the open will attract bugs, vermin, and germs, and will go bad very quickly. In olden times, drying was essential to the preservation of lots of different items, including grains, like rye and wheat.
This was also performed on fruits that wanted to be kept from contamination. The method was done mostly through sun drying, but in cooler regions individuals had to oven dry their goods.
Those that lived in Scandinavia, where temperatures can reach below freezing in the winter time, left their fish meat out to dry and freeze in the air. Meats can definitely be preserved using this method, usually by cutting it into very thin strips, salting it, and placing it in the hot summer sun or a shelter away from dirt and flies.
Salting was another popular process when it came to keeping meats from going bad, because it draws out the moisture and prevents the growth of contaminating bacteria. It was usually done by pressing a layer of salt into strips of meat and then layering them in a bucket filled with the substance, as well.
It was allowed to sit for an extended period of time, and in cold environments could last for years. Salting could also be done by using brine; it was not as effective as the dry method, but could keep things from going bad for at least a season.
A process that is often used in society today is smoking; meat is soaked briefly in a salt solution and hung over a fire to dry. Things that are cooked this way usually have a specific recognizable flavor.
When it comes to keeping vegetables from experiencing contamination, pickling was and is a great option. Pickling is done by immersing fresh vegetables in a salty brine solution.
Author Resource:-
Jack R. Landry is an accomplished expert in family preparedness and has been giving seminars for over 15 years. He recommends that everyone have on hand an Food Storage in case of any emergency or disaster.
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