Preserving Food
For thousands of years, people have tried to find ways to keep food for longer. In the past,
this was important as people needed to save fresh food for times when it was hard to find,
such as the winter. Today there are still many places without electricity and people living in
these places need to preserve food in ways that don’t use fridges. They need to make food
last as long as possible.
Why doesn’t food last?
The problem is that all food can grow bacteria anad bacteria spoils food. To preserve
food you have to destroy the bacteria or slow down their growth. There are different
ways to do this.
1 Drying
Drying is the oldest type of food preservation. If water is
removed from food, the bacteria can’t grow. In ancient
times in hot countries, people simply left fruit and meat
outside to dry in the sun and the wind until all its natıral
water was göne. This made the fruit last a very long time.
Drying fruit sometimes results in a completely new product.
For example, grapes turn into raisins and plums turn into
prunes. Drying food in the sun does not work in cooler or
wetter climates, but people have other methods to preserve food in cold places.
2 Salting
Salting food, especially meat and fish, is another very old way to
preserve food. Bacteria cannot grow in a very salty environment, so
salted food lasts a long time. In many countries, salt fish or meat has
become a traditional food and people still eat today. For example, in
Portugal the national dish is salt cold fish, and although people could
buy fresh fish and refrigerate it, they prefer to eat the preserved fish.
[Link]
3 Canning
A more modern way to preserve food was discovered in
1809 by an inventor called Nicolas Appert. He found that if
food is heated at high temperatures and then sealed in a
container, the food lasts for months. This is because the
bacteria are killed when they are heated and cannot grow
again without air. Vegetables and fizzy drinks in cans, and
jam and juice in bottles are preserved using this method.
4 Freezing
Another newermethod of food preservation of food
preservation is freezing. In the 1900s a scientist called
Clarence Birdseye went to the Arctic. He noticed that
when fish was caught it froze quickly in the icy
conditions. He realises that freezing food slowed down
the growth of bacteria. Back home, he invented a way
of fast-freezing food. Frozen food was first sold in
1930 and was very popular, especially in North
America. Today millions of people have freezers in their homes. All sorts of food, from
vegetables to pizza, is frozen in factories before it is transported to supermarkets for us to
buy.
A- Use the words from the text to complete the sentences.
1 You can preserve plums if you dry them in hot, dry places.
2 Scientists found that freezing makes ____________ grow much more slowly.
3 If you have electricity, you can ____________ food to preserve it.
4 There are many different ____________ for preserving food, like salting and drying.
5 Food is ____________ by lorries from farms to supermarkets.
6 Bacteris ____________ meat if it is not kept in the fridge.
7 When we dry something, the water is ____________ from it.
8 Ice cream is a frozen ____________.
9 In ____________, people put vegetables into cans before they are taken to shops.
10 Scientists ____________ different ways to preserve food a long time ago.
11 Although drying is a ____________ method, people still use it today.
12 If food is completely sealed into a ____________, no air can get in.
[Link]
B- Answer the questions. Write D (drying), S (salting), F (freezing) or C
(canning).
Which method of food preservation……
1 takes the water out of the food? __D__
2 is the newest way tı preserve food? _____
3 works because air can’t reach the food. _____
4 only Works in hot, sunny places. _____
5 was particulary popular in America? _____
6 is still a popular way to preserve fish in Portugal? _____
7 is the coldest. _____
8 was invented in a veery cold place? _____
C- Write True or False
1 In ancient times, people preserved food to eat in winter. _____
2 Bacteria can grow in all types of food. _____
3 Drying food Works well in cold countries. _____
4 Raisins are dried plums. _____
5 Some people like salt fish more than fresh fish. _____
6 Heating food to high temperatures destroys bacteria. _____
7 Freezing food destroys bacteria. _____
8 Food needs to be frozen in a factory to be preserved. _____
D- Write dried, canned or frozen under each food
1 4
__canned__ _________
2 _________ 5 _________
3 _________ 6 _________
[Link]
Canning a popular way to preserve food. This is the process of canning green beans.
Step 1 First, the beans are picked in the fields. Then, they are transported by trucks to the factory.
Step 2 The beans are washed and cut up. Next, they are quickly put in boiling hot water. This keeps them green and firm
and removes air.
Step 3 The beans are then inspectected. Only beans that are correct size, colour and quality are selected.
Step 4 After that, cansa re filled with beans. Hot water is added to remove air and salt is added flavour.
Step 5 Then the lids are put on and sealed. The cansa re cooked at high temperatures for about 12 minutes.
Step 6 Finally, the cansa re labelled and transported to shops.
When you describe a process…
-Write an introduction, explaining which process you are describing.
-Divide the process into steps, and use headings to separe the steps.
- Use the words and phrases such as first, then, next, after that, finally to introduce the steps.
Describe the process of making chocolate. Use the notes below.
chocolate / make / from cocoa beans
Step 1 beans / pick / on the farms
they / leave / to dry in the sun
they / transport / to factories
Step 2 beans / clean / roast / Shell
they / make into / rich brown chocolate liquit
Step 3 fat in the liquid / remove / to make cocoa butter
Coccoa butter / turn into / cocoa powder
Step 4 different ingredients / add / to make milk and dark chocolate
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
[Link]