Preserving Fruit, Vegetables and Other Foods

Learn a wide variety of different food preserving methods.

• Become more self sufficient - extent the shelf life of foods
• Produce tasty food products
• Manufacture preserves to share swap or sell
• Start a food manufacturing business, or get a job
• Reduce wood waste - contribute to food security

Lesson Structure

There are 12 lessons in this course:

1. SCOPE AND NATURE OF FOOD PRESERVATION
   • Definition of food preservation
   • History of food preservation
   • Why do we preserve foods?
   • Overview of food preservation
   • Choosing a food preservation method
2. HOW FOOD DETERIORATES AND BECOMES UNSAFE
   • Food spoilage
   • Food Microbiology
   • Food Spoilage by Enzymes
   • Food-borne Disease
   • Food-borne Infections
3. WAYS FOOD CAN BE PRESERVED
   • Food preservatives
   • Food preservation - Use of Salt
   • Food preservation - Use of Acid
   • Food preservation - Use of Sugar
   • Other natural food preservatives – a summary
   • Artificial preservatives
4. FREEZING FOOD
   • Why freeze food?
   • History of freezing food
   • Which foods can be frozen?
   • How to freeze food
   • Freezing fruits
   • Freezing vegetables
   • Freezing meat and poultry
   • Managing the freezer
   • General considerations when freezing food
5. PICKLES, CHUTNEY AND SAUCES
   • General Guidelines
   • Pickles
   • Other pickles
   • Chutney
   • Sauces
   • Recipes
6. JAMS AND JELLIES
   • Pectin
   • Jam
   • Jelly
   • Marmalade
   • Recipes
7. CANNING/BOTTLING FOODS
   • Bottling
   • Preparation of Ingredients
   • Bottling methods
   • Recipe
   • Demystifying preserving kits
8. DRYING FOOD
   • Drying methods
   • Drying methods for selected produce
   • General tips with drying foods - a summary
9. FERMENTATION
   • Foods fermented by yeast
   • Foods fermented by bacteria
10. OTHER FOOD PRESERVATION TECHNIQUES
    • Smoking food
    • Pasteurisation and sterilisation
    • Sterilisation
    • Food irradiation
    • Vacuum packing
    • Food packaging materials
    • Using the freshest produce
11. USING PRESERVED FOODS
    • Starting a food preserving business
    • Deciding what to grow
    • How to set up your business
12. GLOSSARY OF FOOD PRESERVATION TERMS AND TECHNIQUES

Throughout history, food preserving has been both a tradition and a necessity for food security. 

Before refrigeration, excess food produce was frequently fermented, dried or salted to extend it's use over a longer period. There has been a revival of focus on global food security as the human population increases, and global conditions (eg. wars, climate change, pandemic) impact food availability with increasing frequency.

 This course teaches you many of these old food preserving techniques that were more widely used a few generations ago; but are now needing to be revived.