Conservation 2. Desiccation, salting, curing

The most ancient method of conservation was, perhaps, the desiccation or dehydration. That used system consisted simply in spreading out in the open air the hunting leftovers, the fishing leftovers or the fruits leftovers and recollected roots, and let all those to become dried under the sun and under the wind. Later, the desiccation was facilitated with the depurating of the foods in well-ventilated environs, either in the open air or in closed places. Other employed processes are the salt and the smoked (this last one combined sometimes with a slight salt). The meat of pork and the fat fishes, like the herring, the salmon and the eel, especially, those are suitable for the smoking. In olden times, when the fresh foods were luxury goods, the salted products constituted a grand part of the food. The salt is still the most generalized method of conservation for the fishes, alike, for example, the herring. Both the salt and the sugar possess conservative properties, always and when the ones are used in appropriate quantities. In the cooking of fruits and vegetables, sometimes, the chemical products are added alike, for example, the benzoic acid.

Nowadays, the salting and the curing are used. The desiccation is a more and more applied process in the industries of tins, aside the sterilization by the heat and by the freezing. The modern technique turns possible the desiccation or dehydration of products as much diverse as the milk, as the eggs, as the soups and, inclusive, the prepared foods, for example, the soups. Actually, there are diverse methods of desiccation. The desiccation under the sun and in the open air is used, mainly in the American western coast, for the fruits, alike the grapes (raisins), and, in Scandinavia, for the fishes (herring, cod). In the desiccation with hot air, for example, of vegetables, the weight and the volume of the product are reduced and one part of the cells looses the own capacity of absorption of the water. Even when there is change in the consistency, the taste and the color of the product are not very affected.

A quicker desiccation is the one effectuated in a void, where the water is evaporated within few hours, at a temperature of only 30 to 40 degrees. A method which is even more advanced is the lyophilization, which high cost limited until now the own utilization for the production of soluble coffee. The dried pulverization is a system for producing powdered milk, powdered tea and powdered coffee. The dried foods weight little and those are not affected by the temperature of the deposits and storages. That utilization is very profitable in the army and the life in the open air (camping, excursions, etc.), which require facility of transportation.