Innovation: Nicolas Appert the Father of Canning

The "father of canning," Nicolas Appert was born in France in 1749. He was a confectioner and a chef who experimented for years with the idea of placing foods of all kinds into glass jars, sealing them and boiling them to cook and preserve the contents.

Nicolas Appert. Courtesy of: www.nndb.com

Early in the 1800s, the Napoleonic Wars were taking place and France needed a way to get more supplies to their soldiers. The government offered a 12000 franc reward for an innovative idea that could preserve food and Nicolas Appert had his chance. He submitted his canning idea and by 1810 had been awarded the money which he used to build a canning factory.

Appert's first "can." Courtesy of: en.wikipedia.org

Eventually, glass was replaced by tin or iron cans (developed by Phillipe de Girard) which held up better during shipping, although can openers were not invented until later so one had to smash them with a rock or hack them open with whatever was available. After the war, the process spread throughout Europe and the world.

One of the first tin cans. Courtesy of: www.foodincanada.com

In the early days of canning the development process was very slow and transporting the food was even slower, so the war ended before the process was perfected. As an added twist of fate, Nicolas Appert's canning factory was destroyed by invading soldiers in 1814.

Depiction of an early canning factory. Courtesy of: en.wikipedia.org

I found it interesting that Nicolas Appert used a primitive sort of pasteurization without knowing it. Louis Pasteur eventually demonstrated that the heat was what killed harmful microbes. Canning was definitely a huge innovation. It allowed people to preserve foods much longer and transport it easily without compromising the freshness.

In the present day, we have the ability to combine processes like freeze-drying and canning to preserve foods like never before. Cans from hundred-year old shipwrecks have been tested and deemed edible..although I won't be the first in line to try it.

The food in these was apparently edible after 100 years. Courtesy of: sluglines.blogspot.com

The canning process has affected me in the same way it has affected many others. Sometimes, you're too tired or lazy to make the tomato sauce so you just grab the canned stuff. Canned tuna can make a delicious tuna salad sandwich. Or maybe sweetened evaporated milk boiled in the can to make dulce de leche. Way to go Nicolas!

Dulce de leche. Courtesy of: crumbsfood.co.uk

(Information sourced from en.wikipedia.org)