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Food preservation
One of the oldest methods of food preservation is by drying, which reduces water activity sufficiently to delay or prevent bacterial growth. Most types of meat can be dried. This is especially valuable in the case of pork, since it is difficult to keep without preservation. Many fruits can also be dried
For example, the process is often applied to apples, pears, bananas, mangoes, papaya, apricot, and coconut. Drying is also the normal means of preservation for cereal grains such as wheat, maize, oats, barley, rice, millet and rye.
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Meat, fish and some other foods may be both preserved and flavored through the use of smoke, typically in a smokehouse. The combination of heat to dry the food without cooking it, and the addition of the aromatic hydrocarbons from the smoke preserves the food.
Freezing is also one of the most commonly used
processes commercially and domestically for preserving a very wide range of
food stuffs including prepared food stuffs.
Vacuum packing stores food in a vacuum environment, usually in an air-tight bag or bottle. The vacuum environment strips bacteria of oxygen needed for survival, preventing the food from spoiling. Vacuum-packing is commonly used for storing nuts.
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