Food Preservation
Familiarise yourself with the reasons behind selecting any particular method of food preservation. Your choice of food preservation will depend on weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of each method. You should consider the following factors when deciding on which method to use: Space: The amount of space you have will definitely impact on your choice of preservation. Someone living in a farmhouse can probably store dozens of preserved fruits in jars, whereas someone living in an apartment is unlikely to have the space to spare for rows of preserved plums. Climate: The climate can aid or hinder different storage methods. What might store beautifully through a Canadian winter may well rot during an Australian one. Available equipment: Some preserving methods require specialised equipment that you may not have access to, or that you may be unwilling to use. For example, not everybody enjoys the sterilization process required to preserve fruit in jars and not everyone can build a smokehouse. Cost: Naturally, the costs involved in preserving your food should be weighed against the cost of purchasing the food from a local market, supermarket or other source. In addition, there may be costs in using up storage space, costs in purchasing equipment etc. Care should be given, however, to include the benefits of enjoyment from preserving one 's own food, as well as the health, environmental and nutrient benefits that might arise from preserving homegrown produce, costs that are very hard to quantify and should weigh heavily in your decision-making. Nature of the food: Be realistic about the ability of the food to be preserved. Some food will not tolerate any form of preserving and needs to be eaten fresh. This means that you need to do your research. Also, some foods change during the preserving process and become less palatable or even take on characteristics that are less health-giving. For example, use of nitrites to preserve
References: Leistner I (2000) "Basic aspects of food preservation by hurdle technology ^ Gordon L