Canning, drying and more: The art of food preservation across cultures

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2024

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Different traditional ways of preserving food have been around since ancient times and other modern methods have emerged as technology evolves.

If you want to prepare for an emergency, it’s worth knowing a food preservation method or two so you can keep your stockpile full of supplies.(h/t to IAmCountryside.com) Food preservation ensures a reliable food supply year-round

In the past, people encountered freezing winters or they wanted to live somewhere else but had to bring large amounts of food with them until they reached their destination.

Soon, the Industrial Revolution brought new ways of preserving food. But as the supermarket became more common, the knowledge of different food preservation methods waned.

This knowledge encountered a resurgence as humanity acknowledged that food preservation is still important. While there is little to no risk of starvation now, as a prepper knowing some of these methods can give you the freedom to eat quality food year-round and after a disaster. Canning

Nicolas Appert is credited for discovering howto preserve fruits in jars.

During the Napoleonic Wars, soldiers and sailors atesalt-preserved meats and whatever fresh fruits and vegetables they could find. Unfortunately, depending on the seasons and location, these items were often scarce.

Because Napoleon needed to feed his troops better, he offered 12,000 francs to whoever could develop a new and safe way of preserving food. He also wanted the food to be nutritious, portable and dependable.

Appert, who was a French confectioner, observed that food sealed in containers and then heated was safe to eat until the container opened.

During each economic recession in the U.S., home canning and commercially canned foods gain popularity because they give financially stressed households a chance to store food or spend less on their meals. Cold storage

The use of snow and ice to preserve food goesback to the Romans who dug snow pits and insulated them with grass. Persians also stored ice in pits called yakhchals.

In the U.S., ice houses were built on estates or small and separate buildings for storing food. The ice industry flourished in the early 1800s when inventions like the horse-drawn ice cutter and insulated ships ensured safer and more profitable harvesting.

Families used iceboxes to keep food cold. For a century, families received ice delivered to them from larger ice houses.

The first gas-powered refrigerator appeared in 1911, but households in America using electricity had to wait until 1927. Newer inventions and developments made refrigerators safer, more efficient and more affordable.

The followingyears saw more developments, such as refrigerated railroad cars, refrigerated trailers for semi trucks, small fridges in college dorms and room-sized units for restaurants and grocery stores. (Related: 4 Food preservation methods to avoid spoilage and 3 alternatives to refrigeration.) Dehydrating

Through dehydration, you can prevent the growth ofbacteria, mold and yeast that cause food spoilage.Removing moisture allows food to last months or years while also retaining many nutrients.

The earliest known food dehydration was practiced in 12,000 B.C. People in modern-day the Middle East and Asia laid food out under the sun, where desert air desiccated it before storage.

During the American Civil War, food was dehydrated for commercial use. However, its quality was poor and its popularity plummeted after the war.

In modern times, dehydration is once again a thriving industry not because of war, butin preparation for one. Preppers also dehydrated food to prepare for natural disasters, economic downturns or other emergencies. Freeze-drying

Freeze-drying might seem like one of the newest food preservation methods becauseArsene d’Arsonval developed the process of lyophilization in 1906. Thisprocess involves freezing the food and dropping the surrounding pressure so ice turns directly to vapor.

However,freeze-drying has existed as early as the Incan Empire.

Frost-resistant potato varieties are exposed to freezing nights in the Andes and then brought into the sunlight. Both sunlight and trampling by foot eliminate water and remove skins from the potatoes, which allows them to freeze again.

The process produces a dried, wrinkled, pelletized potato product that can last years. Chuno is then used as flour, in soups or desserts.

While you can use appliances to freeze-dry food at home, you can also purchase freeze-dried food for your stockpile to skip the hassle of the whole process. Freezing

Freezinghas been used for centuries. Freezing food for commercial transport started sometime in 1885 when sailors packed frozen chicken and geese into insulated containers before shipping from Russia to London. This occurred during winter months and the introduction of cold air freezing plants in Russia enabled the industry.

While it might seem redundant to learn about these different food preservation methods amid modern technology and the availability of different products, doing so can helpextend your garden harvests into the winter. Where to get freeze-dried food supplies for your prepping needs

The Health Ranger Store is committed to helping you prepare for any emergency andwe’re proud to introduce different items for your prepping stockpile.

TheRanger Bucket Set – Organic Emergency Storable Food Supplyis an emergency food supply that’s certified organic and laboratory verified. All the food items in the buckets are organic, non-GMO, laboratory-tested for heavy metals and free of chemical ingredients such as preservatives or MSG.

The buckets contain pantry essentials such as black beans, long-grain brown rice and rolled oats. These products can be stored for up to 10 to 15 years, depending on storage conditions.

The Health Ranger Store also offers our specialty Fair Trade Organic Freeze-Dried Coffee in a convenient and easy-to-prepare format.

With a much longer shelf life than regular coffee, Health Ranger Select Organic Freeze-Dried Instant Coffee delivers a bold and exquisite flavor of medium roast coffee that you can enjoy immediately.

Visit Health Ranger Store and Brighteon Storeand browse lab-verified food supplies for your prepping needs.To read more stories about food preservation and tips for building your survival stockpile, visitFoodStorage.news.

Watch this clip about the health benefits of drinking organic coffee.

This video is from theHealth Ranger Store channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories:

An essential guide to storing organic foods for survival.

Powdered cheese: A versatile, shelf-stable food to add to your survival stockpile.

HIDDEN DANGER: Beware of arsenic contamination in rice.

Sources include:

IAmCountryside.com

HealthRangerStore.com 1

HealthRangerStore.com 2

HealthRangerStore.com 3

Brighteon.com
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Entertainment

Lady Gaga puts on her biggest-ever show for free on Rio’s Copacabana Beach

Published

6 mins ago

May 4, 2025

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Lady Gaga puts on her biggest-ever show for free on Rio's Copacabana Beach

Lady Gaga has performed in front of an estimated 2.1 million people at a free show on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.

Some 500,000 tourists travelled to watch the concert, which was paid for by the city in an attempt to boost the struggling economy.

Saturday night’s two-hour show, which marked Gaga’s biggest ever, marked the first time she had played in Brazil since 2012, having cancelled an appearance at the Rock in Rio festival in 2017 over health issues.

Gaga, who released her seventh studio album, Mayhem, in March, opened with a dramatic, operatic edition of her 2011 track Bloody Mary, before launching into Abracadabra, one of her most recent hits.

“Brazil! I missed you. I missed you so much,” she exclaimed, before launching into Poker Face, one of her biggest hits.

The American pop star drew in a similar crowd to Madonna’s in May last year, who performed at the same beach, which is transformed into an enormous dance floor for the shows.

Addressing the crowd in English and through a Portuguese translator, Gaga became emotional as she said: “I’m so honoured to be here with you tonight.

“Tonight we’re making history, but no one makes history alone. Without all of you, the incredible people of Brazil, I wouldn’t have this moment. Thank you for making history with me.

“The people of Brazil are the reason I get to shine today. But of all the things I can thank you for, the one I most am grateful for is this: that you waited for me. You waited more than 10 years for me.”

She said it took so long to come back because she was “healing” and “getting stronger”. The pop sensation cancelled many of her shows in 2017 and 2018 due to her fibromyalgia condition, which can cause pain and fatigue.

It is estimated Gaga’s show will have injected around 600 million reais (£79.9m) into the economy, nearly 30% more than Madonna’s show.

The large-scale free shows are set to continue annually until at least 2028, always taking place in May, which is considered the economy’s “low season”, according to the city’s government.

A hefty security plan was in place, including the presence of 3,300 military and 1,500 police officers, along with 400 military firefighters.

‘A dream come true’

The city has been swarmed with Gaga fans since her arrival on Tuesday, with some even keeping vigil outside of the hotel she has been staying at.

Many arrived at the beach at the crack of dawn on Saturday to secure good spots on the beach, despite the show not starting until 9.45pm.

Ana Lara Folador, who attended with her sister, said it was “a dream come true”, and that Gaga had “really shaped a part of my personality, as a person and an artist”.

Ingrid Serrano, a 30-year-old engineer who made a cross-continent trip from Colombia to Brazil to attend the show, turned up in a T-shirt featuring Lady Gaga’s outlandish costumes over the years.

“I’ve been a 100% fan of Lady Gaga my whole life,” she said, adding the 39-year-old megastar represented “total freedom of expression – being who one wants without shame”.

Matheus Silvestroni, 25, an aspiring DJ and a Gaga fan since the age of 12, endured an eight-hour bus ride from Sao Paulo for the show.

He said it was Gaga who had inspired him to embrace his sexuality and pursue his dream of becoming an artist.

“I was bullied because I was a fat, gay kid, so I was an easy target,” he said. “Gaga was very important because she sent a message that everything was okay with me, I wasn’t a freak, because I was ‘Born This Way’.”

Rio is known for holding massive open-air concerts, with Rod Stewart holding a Guinness World Record for the four million-strong crowd he drew to Copacabana Beach in 1994.

Politics

Conservatives call for Labour’s Lucy Powell to resign over grooming gang remarks

Published

6 mins ago

May 4, 2025

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Conservatives call for Labour's Lucy Powell to resign over grooming gang remarks

The Conservatives are calling for Lucy Powell to resign after the Labour MP’s exchange with a commentator about grooming gangs.

The comment was made by Ms Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, after Conservative political commentator Tim Montgomerie started to ask a question on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions.

“I don’t know if you saw the documentary on Channel 4 about rape gangs,” he started, in relation to the recent programme Groomed: A National Scandal, which centred around five girls who were sexually abused by rape gangs.

Ms Powell, who is MP for Manchester Central, responded: “Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Yeah, OK, let’s get that dog whistle out.”

Sir Keir Starmer and the government have been under sustained pressure from political opponents over the handling of historical sex abuse cases in the UK.

ConservativeHome founder Mr Montgomerie, who will be appearing on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, continued: “There is a real issue where… There were so many people in local government, in the authorities, who, for good reason, were worried about upsetting community tensions, that those girls went undefended.”

The conversation moved on, but politicians criticised Ms Powell’s comment, with some calling for her to resign.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said in a statement: “This shocking outburst from a Labour cabinet minister belittles the thousands of girls and women who were raped by grooming gangs over decades.

“We have consistently called for a national enquiry in parliament, which has been blocked by Labour ministers who don’t seem to know or care about the disgusting crimes which have been perpetrated.

“Anyone who has seen the shocking Channel 4 documentary will know that it is clearer than ever that this is not a ‘dog whistle’.

“To dismiss thousands of victims who were raped and the cover up that followed is sickening. She should resign.”

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Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Labour’s Lucy Powell thinks it’s a ‘dog whistle’ to demand arrests and accountability for the rape gangs. What a disgusting betrayal of the victims. They are part of the cover-up.”

Ousted Reform MP Rupert Lowe, now an independent, shared a letter he wrote to Ms Powell demanding she apologise, calling her comments “deeply, deeply offensive”.

On X on Saturday night, Ms Powell said: “In the heat of a discussion on AQ, I would like to clarify that I regard issues of child exploitation and grooming with the utmost seriousness. I’m sorry if this was unclear.

“I was challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue itself. As a constituency MP I’ve dealt with horrendous cases. This Gvt is acting to get to the truth, and deliver justice.”

Sky News has contacted the office for the Leader of the House of Commons for comment.

The long-running row over grooming cases has continued after Labour promised five local inquiries into grooming gangs in January.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk had accused Sir Keir of being “complicit” in the failure of authorities to protect victims and prosecute abusers while the PM was director of public prosecutions from 2008-2013.

The prime minister has repeatedly defended his record, saying it shows he tackled the issue head-on.

World

Israeli pilots’ protest letter reveals deepening rift over ongoing war in Gaza

Published

7 mins ago

May 4, 2025

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Israeli pilots' protest letter reveals deepening rift over ongoing war in Gaza

The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.

So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.

This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.

But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.

That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.

Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.

“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.

It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.

“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.

“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”

Anti-government campaign spreads

Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.

More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.

Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.

He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.

He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.

A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.

Threat of dismissal

The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.

We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.

“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.

The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.

It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.

The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.

More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.