 Our new favorite clam chowder. Photo by Daniel Norman | IST.
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Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Fish, Seafood & CaviarBar Harbor SeafoodPage 3: The History Of Canning
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We take canned food for granted, but like most things, it is a relatively recent invention—and we owe it to Napoleon Bonaparte. In his time, food preservation was basically limited salting, drying and pickling, techniques that had existed for thousands of years.
Needing a better solution for his troops, in 1795 the French general, known for declaring that “an army marches on its stomach,” had the French government offer 12,000 francs to anyone who invented a new way to preserve food. The prize was finally won by Nicholas Appert, a chef, confectioner and distiller, who began experimenting when the award was announced and finally submitted his invention 14 years later, in 1809. He hermetically sealed food in airtight glass jars and heated them—a method similar to today’s home preserving in Mason jars. Appert thought that driving the air out of the containers prevented the spoilage, but 100 years later, Louis Pasteur showed that it was the elimination of bacteria through sterilization that did the trick. |
 A simple solution to preserve food: It only took 14 years of experimentation for Nicholas Appert to come up with the basic principle. Photo by Ahmed Al-Shukaili | SXC. |
Napoleon tried to keep the new process a secret so that enemy armies would not have the advantage, but the word leaked out. Appert’s method was so easy that it quickly became widespread. The following year another Frenchman, Pierre Durand, patented a method using a tin container. In 1812, an English company purchased both patents and began producing canned preserves. Canning emigrated to America, where canneries began to preserve seasonal foods and perishables; but most Americans still cooked from fresh and dried staples, and canned food did not become the everyday food delivery system we known until the beginning of the 20th century (the company that produces Bar Harbor Foods was established in 1917). Appert is known as the “father of canning,” and also invented the bouillon cube.
But forget that bouillon cube and order yourself some chowder!
BAR HARBOR FOODS Fish items certified kosher by Orthodox Union
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