Preservation of Seasonal Foods

Man has been preserving food since the beginning of time. Curing and drying were the most common ways to preserve fruits, vegetables and meats. In the Medieval days they used a method called dry-salting where the meat or fish was buried in salt and they also did brine-curing where meat was soaked in salt water. Today we have more hi-tech methods of food preservation such, as vacuum packing, and irradiation, which is exposing food to ionizing radiation. Yesterday in my Garde Manager class Chef England brought in a load of vegetables from his garden, there were three types of tomatoes and some peppers. We had the opportunity to preserve these vegetables using three different preservation methods. The preservation processes we used were drying, pickling, and canning. I helped with pickling the peppers; I can’t wait to taste them. Since I have been a student at Ivy Tech I have been introduced to the new movement of” buy local” and grow your own food. I have never grown any thing in my and I find this exciting and I would like to start my own small garden. I have also started buying from local farmers personally and I have encouraged my employer to add local products to our menu.

            I think that the reason for a lot of the health issues and obesity in this country is due to the fact that when America became industrialized we became a country that needed convenience. As technology has grown the quality of our food has decreased, we need to get back to the basics. I want to get down on my knees and get my hands dirty growing and preserving my own food and teaching others to do likewise, instead of eating at fast food restaurants and grabbing the prepackaged meal.