World History
Unbeknownst to me until later, Miland was considering changing the channel earlier this week when I suddenly said ?I don?t know why I am interested in this, but I am.? The topic that caught my attention was canning. Sound dull? Miland thought so. I realize the subject is not nearly as fascinating as the topic in Sex with the Queen, but the show kept my interest for the whole hour. It reminded of a segment of Mr. Fred Rogers children?s show where he?d pop a tape into ?picture, picture.? These segments would reveal how everything from crayons to toilet bowls is made.
Growing up, I?d often get a front row seat (helping, actually) in seeing how food was preserved. My mom avidly canned and froze food in the summer and fall. Back in the eighties she called home canning ?a lost art.? She felt like one of a few who kept rows of Mason and Ball Jars containing green and yellow beans, peaches, pears, beets, whole tomatoes, tomato juice, apple butter and several kinds of pickles (butter, sweet, and dill) on old wooden shelves in the basement. My favorite, though, was canned beef (which needed to be processed in a pressure cooker). I?ve never seen anything like my mom?s canned beef at a store. Mixed with milk and spread on toast or served with mashed potatoes and noodles, the beef was divine.
I know how to can, but I don?t do it. There is a reason home canning is becoming a rare phenomenon. It?s hard, hot work. There is also the slight risk of serious food poisoning (botulism) caused by improperly preserved food which has discouraged me from my late mom?s hobby.
However, Modern Marvels on the History Channel, the show I watched, did not focus so much on home canning as canning for the masses. The image that first caught my attention was rows of shiny metal cans whizzing along conveyor belts in a factory. In a factory, canned goods are produced with a lot less effort and in a lot less time than at home.I never thought of canning as a modern marvel, but come to think of it, it is. Knowing Miland, he would probably point out that Roman emperors did not have access to canned peas, green beans and spaghetti sauce like we do. All we have to do is go to a grocery store and pick up a can of say veggies costing at times as little as a quarter (when on sale).
According to Modern Marvels, we can thank Napoleon Bonaparte for the privilege of having access to canned foods like peaches and peas during the off-season. He wanted well-preserved food of a higher quality for his army and offered a monetary prize to whoever could come up with a method of preservation. Nicolas F. Appert won in 1809 for developing a method of vacuum-sealing food inside glass jars. It was soon discovered, however, that glass jars were not suitable containers in terms of transporting the goods to battlefields.
In 1810 Peter Durand patented a process for preserving foods in wrought-iron (must have been really heavy) cans. Later, tin cans became the preferred container. Ezra Warner, of Waterbury Connecticut patented the can opener until 1858. Until then, the ends of bayonets, knives, chisels or even rocks were used to open the tinned goods. I?m not sure what Warner?s version looked like, but now we are fortunate to have numerous ways to open cans from pull tabs to electric can openers to those incorporated into pocket knives.
New inventions such as the can opener helped to keep preserved goods in the civilian market. Further, Soldiers, (many from the working class) from major wars like the Crimean War, American Civil War, and Franco-Prussian War helped to create a demand for canned items after the wars were over. Fast forward to the early twentieth century and one can find items such as spaghetti sauce (often in glass jars), canned pineapple, chili beans and all sorts of safely-preserved food in the typical contemporary kitchen cupboard or pantry. In the end, I understood why I was so fascinated with that show. It helped me to realize how much I take factory-produced canned goods for granted. Mr. Rogers would approve.
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World History
A History of Canning
Unbeknownst to me until later, Miland was considering changing the channel earlier this week when I suddenly said ?I don?t know why I am interested in this, but I am.? The topic that caught my attention was canning. Sound dull? Miland thought so. I realize the subject is not nearly as fascinating as the topic in Sex with the Queen, but the show kept my interest for the whole hour. It reminded of a segment of Mr. Fred Rogers children?s show where he?d pop a tape into ?picture, picture.? These segments would reveal how everything from crayons to toilet bowls is made.
Growing up, I?d often get a front row seat (helping, actually) in seeing how food was preserved. My mom avidly canned and froze food in the summer and fall. Back in the eighties she called home canning ?a lost art.? She felt like one of a few who kept rows of Mason and Ball Jars containing green and yellow beans, peaches, pears, beets, whole tomatoes, tomato juice, apple butter and several kinds of pickles (butter, sweet, and dill) on old wooden shelves in the basement. My favorite, though, was canned beef (which needed to be processed in a pressure cooker). I?ve never seen anything like my mom?s canned beef at a store. Mixed with milk and spread on toast or served with mashed potatoes and noodles, the beef was divine.
I know how to can, but I don?t do it. There is a reason home canning is becoming a rare phenomenon. It?s hard, hot work. There is also the slight risk of serious food poisoning (botulism) caused by improperly preserved food which has discouraged me from my late mom?s hobby.
However, Modern Marvels on the History Channel, the show I watched, did not focus so much on home canning as canning for the masses. The image that first caught my attention was rows of shiny metal cans whizzing along conveyor belts in a factory. In a factory, canned goods are produced with a lot less effort and in a lot less time than at home.I never thought of canning as a modern marvel, but come to think of it, it is. Knowing Miland, he would probably point out that Roman emperors did not have access to canned peas, green beans and spaghetti sauce like we do. All we have to do is go to a grocery store and pick up a can of say veggies costing at times as little as a quarter (when on sale).
According to Modern Marvels, we can thank Napoleon Bonaparte for the privilege of having access to canned foods like peaches and peas during the off-season. He wanted well-preserved food of a higher quality for his army and offered a monetary prize to whoever could come up with a method of preservation. Nicolas F. Appert won in 1809 for developing a method of vacuum-sealing food inside glass jars. It was soon discovered, however, that glass jars were not suitable containers in terms of transporting the goods to battlefields.
In 1810 Peter Durand patented a process for preserving foods in wrought-iron (must have been really heavy) cans. Later, tin cans became the preferred container. Ezra Warner, of Waterbury Connecticut patented the can opener until 1858. Until then, the ends of bayonets, knives, chisels or even rocks were used to open the tinned goods. I?m not sure what Warner?s version looked like, but now we are fortunate to have numerous ways to open cans from pull tabs to electric can openers to those incorporated into pocket knives.
New inventions such as the can opener helped to keep preserved goods in the civilian market. Further, Soldiers, (many from the working class) from major wars like the Crimean War, American Civil War, and Franco-Prussian War helped to create a demand for canned items after the wars were over. Fast forward to the early twentieth century and one can find items such as spaghetti sauce (often in glass jars), canned pineapple, chili beans and all sorts of safely-preserved food in the typical contemporary kitchen cupboard or pantry. In the end, I understood why I was so fascinated with that show. It helped me to realize how much I take factory-produced canned goods for granted. Mr. Rogers would approve.
- Jomon Japan
Jomon Japan. This site has a practical introduction to Jomon archaeology in Japan. It includes museums, links to other related sites, and research literature. The site describes this ancient Japanese period. It notes, "The Jomon period, from approx....
- Humbled By The Storm
Yesterday was not a good weather day. A massive storm hit my town yesterday shortly after 6PM. I was getting ready to sit down and write a history post when I noticed the weather outside. Dark low hanging clouds came out of nowhere. The temperature dropped...
- Aboriginal Resistance
Aboriginal Resistance - This site is a decent timeline of incidents of Aboriginal resistance to European settlement in Australia. It covers 1790-1997. The history begins with accounts of violence and thievery and ends with details of Australian court...
- Stetson Kennedy And Superman Beat The Kkk
Superman Versus the KKK. Although greatly diminished today, the Ku Klux Klan has had a lot of influence on American history. In the early and mid-20th Century, it was able to control large portions of state governments in the USA. That power ebbed. And...
- Roman History, Coins, And Technology Back Pages
Roman History, Coins, and Technology Back Pages Articles on a wide range of topics including emperors, women, events, engineers, the army, art, government, social classes, food, cities, the economy, trade, transport and coins, hosted by San José State...