3 ms·

A few techniques which involve adding something to the food: * Salt * Vinegar * Alcohol

hinkley 6y ago
I believe salt counts as dehydrating, although there are other forms of curing that don’t achieve the same water removal as salted meat. Vinegar and alcohol technically are fermentation, although it’s true that in some cases primary fermentation happens separately and the food is stored in the result. Pickling is sort of a grey area.
- phonypc 6y ago
  Salting is often combined with some amount of dehyrdrating of the entire food, but e.g. wet brining meat will actually add water. Salt directly dehydrates the microbes themselves through osmotic pressure.
- adrianmonk 6y ago
  Apparently you can also add alcohol as a preservative: https://preserveandpickle.com/preserving-fruit-alcohol/ https://preserveandpickle.com/preserving-fruit-alcohol/
- samatman 6y ago
  I see a difference between drying something out and salting it (or sugaring it) even though both remove moisture, and a difference between fermenting something into vinegar and/or alcohol, and using those substances to preserve something directly, even though, yes, you won't have alcohol nor vinegar without fermentation. Similarities as well! This taxonomy wouldn't be a well-formed tree.
- tharkun__ 6y ago
  Actually salt also counts as fermentation. Most people I gather know that Sauerkraut is fermented but maybe not how that works. It's basically just cabbage, cut up and stored in salt brine. The salt in the brine makes the initial environment favourable to the bacteria that create the lactic acid and all of this together crowds out all the bad bacteria and fungi. You can actually have mold swimming on top of the Sauerkraut sometimes (though some that looks like it isn't actually mold) but the mold spores can't penetrate down into the Sauerkraut, so you can actually just get rid of it and best a bit of the top of the Sauerkraut that was very close to the surface, just in case. But the rest of the Kraut will be completely fine.
adrianmonk 6y ago
Also sugar. For example, fruit preserves.

I believe salt counts as dehydrating, although there are other forms of curing that don’t achieve the same water removal as salted meat. Vinegar and alcohol technically are fermentation, although it’s true that in some cases primary fermentation happens separately and the food is stored in the result. Pickling is sort of a grey area.

phonypc 6y ago
Salting is often combined with some amount of dehyrdrating of the entire food, but e.g. wet brining meat will actually add water. Salt directly dehydrates the microbes themselves through osmotic pressure.
adrianmonk 6y ago
Apparently you can also add alcohol as a preservative: https://preserveandpickle.com/preserving-fruit-alcohol/ https://preserveandpickle.com/preserving-fruit-alcohol/
samatman 6y ago
I see a difference between drying something out and salting it (or sugaring it) even though both remove moisture, and a difference between fermenting something into vinegar and/or alcohol, and using those substances to preserve something directly, even though, yes, you won't have alcohol nor vinegar without fermentation. Similarities as well! This taxonomy wouldn't be a well-formed tree.
tharkun__ 6y ago
Actually salt also counts as fermentation. Most people I gather know that Sauerkraut is fermented but maybe not how that works. It's basically just cabbage, cut up and stored in salt brine. The salt in the brine makes the initial environment favourable to the bacteria that create the lactic acid and all of this together crowds out all the bad bacteria and fungi. You can actually have mold swimming on top of the Sauerkraut sometimes (though some that looks like it isn't actually mold) but the mold spores can't penetrate down into the Sauerkraut, so you can actually just get rid of it and best a bit of the top of the Sauerkraut that was very close to the surface, just in case. But the rest of the Kraut will be completely fine.

adrianmonk 6y ago

Also sugar. For example, fruit preserves.