[CLUB5050]: 5 Simple Ways To Preserve Food At Home.

Good day to all members of this community 😊 I trust you're doing great? As for me, I'm awesome and very grateful to be alive. Well today, I'll still be taking a detour from my initial topics of business, personal development and personal finance. I'll like to talk about food today 🍳. I hope you're as excited as I am 😉. Let's get right into it...

Well today, we'll be taking a look at food preservation. I'll be showing us 5 simple techniques we can all begin using today regardless of where we are to better preserve our food so that we can eat safe and healthy food.

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Food preservation methods, refers to the various techniques we can use to prevent food from either decaying or spoiling, thereby enabling the food to be fit for consumption even after a very long time. Food preservation seeks to make sure the various nutrients found in food is maintained, while at the same time preventing the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi amongst others.

Think of that time when you went shopping for groceries and you realized you bought more than you needed. What did you do? I hope you didn't just throw away the excess? Well, even if you did, I'll be showing you some simple ways you can use to preserve your food so that in case you run into such a situation next time, you know exactly what to do 😉.

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Preservation By Drying.

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^{Drying Corn Using Sunlight}
Oh yes you heard me right, we can preserve our food by simply drying it. Infact, drying is the oldest method of food preservation used by humans which has existed for thousands of years. The methods of drying has changed over time, but drying still remains the most reliable method. This is so because we can dry just by using sunlight. From grains like corn, beans, rice amongst others, meat and fish can all be preserved by drying.

This method works by reducing the amount of water found in food. This makes food lighter, and equally prevents the growth of microorganisms.

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Refrigeration

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Well, as the times have progressed, so too has technology. It is very common to find a refrigerator in every household. Refrigerators can simply keep food fresh, or freeze them where necessary. This is done by keeping the foodstuffs in extremely cold temperatures. While vegetables and fruits can be kept fresh in temperatures of about -4⁰c, it is usually advisable to freeze meat and fish. Liquids too can be frozen.

Salting

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Well, this cooking Ingredient which is found in every kitchen and used for almost every recipe, doesn't only make food taste better. It turns out salt is a powerful preservative. Salt can be used to preserve food, and this works by removing moisture and water from food. This will prevent the growth of microorganisms. For things like meet and fish, salting can be used to preserve for short time periods. But in my case, I usually salt and then smoke, to preserve even longer.

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Canning

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Canning can be used to store foods such as roots and cellars, grains and even meet. In recent times, canning has become even more popular. In shops we can find canned corn, canned beans, canned beef and even sardine in cans. But before canning things at home, we must make sure that the cans to be used are very clean, and preservatives should be added where necessary. Once food is canned, if the can is opened, then the food runs the risk of getting bad. It is always advisable to consume the food after a very short period of time once the can has been opened.

A technique very similar to Canning is Bottling. Here, clean bottles are used to store liquids such as water, milk, natural fruit juice amongst others.

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Burying In Earth.

This technique is actually not very popular, but I learnt it from my grand ma. This technique is very simple and works very well with tubers and root vegetables like potatoes, yams, cassava amongst others. You simply dig up a hole, and you burry. While they're buried, there is less exposure to sunlight and oxygen and this works very well to preserve these tubers and root vegetables.

There you go, 5 simple things you can begin doing today to make sure you preserve you food. Eat quality food, eat healthy food.

Thanks for reading 👊
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