It doesn’t matter if you are involved in the food manufacturing industry or you are a home builder trying to take care of your family because we want to preserve the lifetime of food that we eat. There are a number of microorganisms that will be causing your food to go bad more quickly and so you need to put things into place to slow them down or to kill them altogether. It is well known that these same microorganisms cannot survive in things like acidic conditions and anything where high concentrations of salt and sugar are used. They also don’t like alcohol, high temperatures or anything that makes life difficult for them.
As most people know, the colder the food is, the easier it is to control how quickly it deteriorates and even though you put it in your fridge, this just slows things down but by spending your money and researching where there are freeze dryers for sale, you can stop the deterioration altogether. This is one excellent way to preserve your food for longer and the following are some others.
1. You can use heat
If food is boiled then this kills most of the enzymes and most of the microorganisms. Whatever food that you decide to boil, you must take steps afterwards to make sure that it is sealed in conditions where no air can get in. This is why it makes perfect sense to invest in some airtight jars and keep these close to hand so that your food can last much longer.
2. Use alcohol, salt and sugar
In high concentrations, these are perfect for creating environments where microorganisms cannot excel. Alcohol actually kills them off altogether and so if you are trying to preserve acidic fruit for example, then put them in some kind of sugar solution or alcohol. Vegetables last much longer in things like vinegar or salt or any combination of both of these. This is why many Australians enjoy pickling or from putting their food in vinegar or alcohol.
3. Remove any moisture
All microorganisms need some kind of moisture in order that they can grow and so they definitely do not like dry conditions. All food can be dried using things like warm air or an oven to remove any moisture that is in the food. Salt naturally draws out moisture from food.
4. You can use canning
This is a process that involves putting any food that you want to last for longer in canning jars and then heating them afterwards to a high enough temperature that kills any microorganisms inside. You will find that air is also pushed out of the jar and as the can itself starts to cool, a seal is formed naturally.
These are four ways in which you can make your food last longer and there are quite a few more. Freeze drying remains the most popular one however and so it’s worth investing in.