Pickling and Fermenting Cookbook for Preppers

Book excerpt: What are fermenting and pickling? Preserving food has been an activity that humans have been doing ever since the beginning of human civilization. Due to the lack of refrigeration and other contemporary food preservation techniques, ancient people were forced to rely on time-honored practices such as smoking, salting, and drying their food in order to store it for longer periods of time than is possible today. Canning, freezing, and vacuum-sealing food are only few of the modern methods that are available for preserving food. Pickling and fermenting are, on the other hand, two of the oldest and most tried-and-true techniques for the preservation of food. In the following paragraphs, we are going to discuss what pickling and fermenting are, how they function, and the advantages of doing either one. The preservation of food by the method of pickling involves placing the item in an acidic solution, which is often composed of vinegar, salt, and spices. The acid contained in the pickling solution contributes to the formation of an environment that makes it difficult for bacteria, the proliferation of which can cause food to go bad. The process of pickling requires immersing vegetables or fruits in a pickling solution for an extended period of time. This enables the food to take on the flavors of the spices and vinegar used in the pickling process. The end product is a sour and tasty pickled dish that does not require refrigeration and may be kept for extended periods of time without spoiling. People in ancient Mesopotamia preserved food by submerging it in a brine made of salt and water. This method is thought to have originated in that region. Over the course of history, the method developed and advanced, becoming more complex as time went on. At the same time, several cultures developed their own distinctive pickling processes and recipes. Pickling food has been an increasingly common practice in many parts of the world in recent times.