Page 40 - The Lost Book Preserving Food Naturally

The Lost Book of Preserving Food Naturally

When most people think of preserving food in our modern industrialized society, they
think of using cold. Actually, they don’t even think of it in those terms, they just think they

need to keep the food from spoiling. But isn’t that the same thing? So off to the

refrigerator they go.

Both refrigeration and freezing are means of preserving food; but they (especially

refrigeration) are actually some of the poorest methods of food preservation going.

Compared to the other methods we’ve discussed, refrigeration can only keep food from
spoiling for a short period of time. Freezing extends this time, but does so at the cost of

constant energy input. It is also risky, in the sense that it will stop working if electrical

power is lost.

Unlike other methods of food preservation, refrigeration doesn’t kill bacteria or turn the
food into an inhospitable environment for it to survive. Rather, it acts on the bacteria

itself by slowing its metabolism. Although bacteria can’t be “cold blooded” because it

doesn’t have any blood, the same concept applies. The internal temperature of the

bacteria is the same as its environment. So the lower the temperature, the slower the

metabolism; the slower the metabolism, the less the bacteria eats.

Freezing lowers the temperature of the bacteria to the point where its metabolism comes
to a complete standstill. But it doesn’t kill the bacteria either. Once the food’s

temperature rises above freezing, the bacteria become active again and start consuming

the food.

Freezing has another risk as well, especially in modern “frost free” freezers. In order to
keep the freezer from developing frost, the moisture is sucked out of it regularly,

something like that which is done in freeze-drying food. If food is not properly wrapped

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