The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several

Appert, Nicolas, 1749-1841Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.0
Word count
137K words
Chapters
14

Tags

English Originals Food and Drink CraftsmanshipApplied ScienceCanning TechniqueFood PreservationFood StorageLife WisdomStep-by-Step GuidePractical GuideTechnical Manual19th Century

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for SeveralAuthor: Appert, Nicolas, 1749-1841,Language: English, Class: TX: Technology: Home economics, Release Date: Jul 10, 2016

Editor's review

This book is Nicolas Appert's work on methods for preserving animal and vegetable foodstuffs, an English electronic text released by Project Gutenberg. Its core value lies in recording an early systematic set of methods from the formative period of modern food preservation: the author, as a practitioner, discusses heat treatment, sealed containers and other processes and applies them to meat, vegetables and many other foods. For today's readers the book is both an important primary source in the history of food technology and a way to understand how early canning ideas were expressed and practised. Note that its methods rest on the knowledge of the time, and some operational details do not meet modern food-safety standards and should not be copied directly. It is better read as material for the history of technology, domestic history and the food industry; set against modern food science, it reveals the course of technological change, whereas using it as a practical recipe book or home-preserving manual carries clear risks.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Learn about the food-preservation context of Appert's time before reading the methods, and avoid judging them directly by modern standards.
  2. Read the procedures alongside modern food microbiology to trace the key changes in technological evolution.
  3. Excerpt the descriptions of containers and heat treatment as primary material for writing on technological history.
  4. In the English text, read selectively the chapters on preserving meat and vegetables; there is no need to go page by page.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14

FAQ

Can the preservation methods in this book still be followed today? Following them directly is not advised. The methods predate modern food-safety standards, and their descriptions of heating temperatures, container handling and hygiene do not meet current standards; copying them may pose food-safety risks. The book is better read as a historical document, and actual practice should follow modern food-preservation guidelines.
What is the main historical value of this book? It records an early systematic practice from the formative period of food-preservation technology, including the application of heat treatment and sealed containers to meat and vegetables. For those studying the origins of canning, the history of domestic technology and the evolution of the food industry, it is an original English text reflecting the knowledge and practices of its time.
The English original is difficult; what can I do? Start with the chapters on preserving common foods and skip lengthy classifications; for old units of measure and vessel names, background material on technological history will suffice. If you only want the gist of the historical facts, you may also read it alongside relevant Chinese studies; there is no need to read every word.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Appert, Nicolas, 1749-1841 Author · French · 1749–1841

Nicolas Appert (1749–1841) was a French confectioner and inventor, best known for pioneering the method of preserving food by sealing it in containers and heating them, which earned him the later title "father of canning." He devoted himself to the problem of food spoilage at ordinary temperatures and eventually worked out a process of packing food into containers, sealing them, and applying heat to extend its keeping quality—an approach that laid the groundwork for modern canning technology. Two of his works are held in this collection: The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several and Le livre de tous les ménages. The former sets out methods for preserving both animal and vegetable foods, while the latter addresses everyday household matters, reflecting his tendency to present practical techniques in accessible guides. His writings focus on procedural steps and accumulated experience, written in plain language, and proved widely influential. Because public information is limited, details of his life cannot be described in full.