A brief history on home canning

Despite its traditional image, canning is a relatively new method of food preservation. Here's what you should know about the history of canning.

• Canning came to public notice in France in the early 1800s as a result of a competition set up by Napoleon, who wanted a reliable way of supplementing the diet of frontline troops.
• Their diet at the time consisted mainly of salt beef and pork, dried potatoes and whatever could be foraged. Apart from the monotony of such a diet, it was lacking in the vitamin C that comes with fruit and vegetables, and outbreaks of scurvy were commonplace in the army.

Nicolas Appert, a confectioner and former brewer who for years had been experimenting with methods of preserving food by heat, took on the challenge.

• In a laboratory in his vegetable garden Appert set up cauldrons in which he boiled open jars of peas, beans, milk and selected cuts of beef.
• His aim was to drive out air, which he believed was the cause of food deterioration; the jars were removed after an hour or more and sealed with close-fitting corks, wire and wax.
• Although Appert's reasoning was wrong, his efforts were successful.

• In 1810 Appert was awarded the 12,000-franc prize, and in the press his achievement was hailed as "a way to fix the seasons… spring, summer and autumn live on in bottles."
• The French army and navy could now be efficiently provisioned. (It was not for another half century that the work of another Frenchman, Louis Pasteur, established the real reason for the success of the process. Pasteur demonstrated that the high heat destroyed spoilage bacteria and the tight seal prevented subsequent contamination by airborne, disease-causing bacteria.)
• Appert did not take out a patent on his invention and died a pauper.
• Apart from providing the basis for home-bottling methods used throughout the world in modern times, Appert's research opened the way for developments in food preservation.
• By the late 19th century, metal had superseded glass and tinned food was being mass produced in the United States.

From the 1800s to today, canning is a popular way to preserve fruits and vegetables. Why not try it for yourself?

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