1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today we're 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: going to talk about an innovation that dramatically changed how 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: people around the world have dealt with food, and that's canning. 6 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: It is a topic that has been on both of 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: our short lists for a while. I think we talked 8 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: about it like four years ago, Yeah, four years ago, 9 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: and then more recently like there's it's it's been a 10 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: thing that has come up a bunch of times, Um 11 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: and I started thinking about it again earlier on. In 12 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: the pandemic here in the US and in other parts 13 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: of the world, we've we were having some disruptions in 14 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: the supply chain. Folks were stocking up on non perishable 15 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: stuff to get through shutdowns. And then there's also just 16 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: been a huge, huge increase in the need for food 17 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: from food banks in similar resources. And now we are 18 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: recording this five months to the day after the World 19 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: Health Organization declared COVID nineteen to be a pandemic. All 20 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: of this stuff is still really relevant. And so after 21 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: having put it aside for other things, having had it 22 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,679 Speaker 1: linger on both of our lists for so long I 23 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 1: finally moved it back up to the top. So food 24 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: preservation stretches back to the very beginnings of human history. 25 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: It is generally agreed that people started smoking meat not 26 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 1: long after learning to start a fire, and all over 27 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: the world people have been smoking, drying, salting, curing, pickling, 28 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: and fermenting food for thousands and thousands of years. People 29 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: in cold climates figured out early on the frozen food 30 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: lasted longer, and people have built structures like roots sellers 31 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: and springhouses to keep food cooler so it will not 32 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: spoil as quickly. In addition to just making their food 33 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: last longer, people's around the world have developed food preservation 34 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: techniques that are also culturally important or significant, and in 35 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: some cases also delicious as well. Just as one example, 36 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: we have a whole episode in the archive about how 37 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: the world's cheeses tell the story of when and where 38 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: they were developed, and one of the reasons for making 39 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: cheese is that it can have a longer shelf life 40 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: than fresh milk does, and trading in these preserved foods 41 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:28,519 Speaker 1: has also been a huge part of economies all over 42 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,239 Speaker 1: the world from millennia for example, people in coastal areas 43 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,679 Speaker 1: drying and salting fish to sell to people further inland. 44 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: Most of these methods of food preservation, they come with 45 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: some drawbacks, though Many extend shelf life for a few 46 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: weeks or months, but not far beyond that, and some 47 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: others will change the flavor or texture, or nutrient content, 48 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: or even the overall quality of the food in a 49 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: way that isn't necessarily desirable. For example, salted meat can 50 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: be incredibly salty. I don't see why that's a problem, 51 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,519 Speaker 1: and soaking it to remove the salt also washes away 52 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: water soluble nutrients. Curing food also takes a lot of 53 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: sugar or salt, and those can be expensive or scarce, 54 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: depending on when or where you're talking about. Yeah, obviously 55 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 1: these are also just examples. Things can also get a 56 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,359 Speaker 1: lot more complicated with all of this if you are 57 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: a nation that has gone to war with most of 58 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: your neighbors, causing you to lose most of your trading 59 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: partners while also needing to support an army and a navy. 60 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: In other words, if you're France around the turn of 61 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, Um, thanks for marjarine. Yeah, there's so 62 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: much stuff that we've talked about on the show that 63 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: is related to military history in France and the late 64 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: seventeen hundred's early eight hundreds. Yeah, so some of the 65 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: specifics of France's search for a better way to preserve 66 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: food are a little bit fuzzy. There are a lot 67 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: of general articles that described Napoleon's government offering a reward 68 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: for a food preservation method that could help sustain the 69 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: army and navy in seventeen ninety five, but Napoleon did 70 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: not actually have control of the government in seventeen ninety five. 71 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: He became first Consul in seventeen ninety nine, an Emperor 72 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,679 Speaker 1: of the French in eighteen o four. His highest rank 73 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety five was Commander of the Army of 74 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: the Interior. Other sources described the French Directoire, which was 75 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: the French revolutionary government offering a reward in seventeen ninety five, 76 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 1: or Napoleon himself offering it in eighteen hundred. The book 77 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: that actually earned this award, though, does not mention any 78 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: of that. Instead, it describes the Society for the Promotion 79 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: of National Industry, which had been established in eighteen o one, 80 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: which offered rewards for quote discoveries from which the nation 81 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: and humanity may draw substantial benefits. The book also describes 82 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,040 Speaker 1: the agricultural Society putting out a call in eighteen no. 83 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:04,040 Speaker 1: Nine to quote, collect all the information and documents which 84 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: might contribute to the composition of a work on the 85 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: art of preserving by the best possible means every kind 86 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: of elementary substance. The person who earned that prize for 87 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,600 Speaker 1: the development of canning leading to the writing of this 88 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 1: book was Nicola A. Pare, who was awarded twelve thousand 89 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: francs under the condition that he write up this detailed 90 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: account of the work that he had done and provide 91 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: the board with two hundred copies of that book printed 92 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,840 Speaker 1: at his own expense. I wonder how much that bit 93 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 1: into that twelve thousand francs. It's a good question. A 94 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: Pair was born in Chelan, mr now called Chelon and Champagna, France, 95 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: on November seventy nine. He was the son of an innkeeper, 96 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: and he did not have a formal academic education. He 97 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: was interested in food and cooking, though, and he learned 98 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:56,359 Speaker 1: how to brew and pickle from his father, and he 99 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: did apprentice with a chef in seventy, a pair moved 100 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,839 Speaker 1: to Paris, became a confectioner, and five years later he 101 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: married Elizabeth ben Wat. The two of them went on 102 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: to have five children, and by this point he had 103 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: his own business, which combined a confectionery with the grocery store. 104 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: He had enough money to spare that he donated to 105 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,160 Speaker 1: the revolutionary army during the French Revolution, and he was 106 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: also prominent enough to represent his political district at the 107 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: execution of Louis the sixteen. This also meant that he 108 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: was prominent enough to be targeted during the Reign of Terror. 109 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: He was arrested but ultimately cleared of suspicion. In the 110 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 1: seventeen nineties, a Pair added a wholesale produce business to 111 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: his confectionery and grocery store, and that seems to be 112 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: when he became more interested in food preservation. But he 113 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: was missing a huge piece of knowledge that really would 114 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:51,360 Speaker 1: have helped him in his research, and that was knowledge 115 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: of microbiology. Back in we did an episode on Antony 116 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: von leban Hook, who is known as the father of 117 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: microbiology thanks to his spending a lot of time observing 118 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,919 Speaker 1: things through a microscope and documenting what he saw. He 119 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: had started this work back in sixteen seventy three, but 120 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: by a pair's lifetime two centuries later, this field was 121 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: still really in its infancy. People didn't understand what these 122 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 1: tiny things were that von Leavin Hook had described as 123 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: animal cules. They didn't understand how they got there or 124 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: what they did. A lot of people believed that these 125 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: little things that he had documented so carefully, somehow just 126 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 1: spontaneously generated. I still want there to be an animated 127 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: series called animal Cules. I think that would be a 128 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: lot of fun. I would watch it. It would sell 129 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: like hotcake. UM just me. In seventeen sixty seven, so 130 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:52,239 Speaker 1: almost one years after von Leavin Hook started his work, 131 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: priest and biologist Lazaro Spellanzani published a paper on this subject. 132 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 1: He had done experiments with four vials of bras, one open, 133 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: one sealed, one boiled and then left open, and one 134 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,559 Speaker 1: boiled and immediately sealed. When he looked at the broth 135 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: under a microscope after some time had passed, the first 136 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: three contained micro organisms. The fourth, that one that had 137 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: been boiled and sealed, did not. Spelling Zani concluded that 138 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 1: what he was seeing in those other three vials were 139 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: living organisms that had been carried in from the air. 140 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:32,679 Speaker 1: Spellingsoni's work did not totally convince proponents of spontaneous generation, 141 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: though they made arguments that like he had damaged some 142 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: kind of vital essence that was necessary to spontaneous generation 143 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: by boiling his broth for too long, he also hadn't 144 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,319 Speaker 1: really made the connection that the life forms that he 145 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: was observing could spoil food or cause illness. But he 146 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: did demonstrate that heating something up and also protecting it 147 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: from exposure to the air accomplished something, and his work 148 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: on this subject it was really the only thing in 149 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,719 Speaker 1: print when a Pair was doing this work that documented 150 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: that connection. Poorly understood as it was, you've killed the 151 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: animal fules No. A Pair became convinced that ceiling food 152 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: away from air was the key to preserving it, and 153 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: it took him almost fifteen years to come up with 154 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: a method and to demonstrate that it worked. His conclusion 155 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,319 Speaker 1: after all that time quote, it is obvious that this 156 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:32,199 Speaker 1: new method of preserving animal and vegetable substance proceeds from 157 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,559 Speaker 1: the simple principle of applying heat in a due degree 158 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: to the several substances after having deprived them as much 159 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: as possible of all contact with the external air. We'll 160 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: get into more details about that. After a quick sponsor break, 161 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 1: Nicola A pair started trying to work out a way 162 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: to preserve food in five and we understand today that 163 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: what he was doing was getting the food hot enough 164 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:07,760 Speaker 1: to kill the microorganisms in it at least most of 165 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:11,080 Speaker 1: the time, but without cooking it so much that it 166 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 1: became inedible. He was also keeping the food in a 167 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: sealed container so that airborne microorganisms couldn't recontaminate it. The 168 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 1: sealed environment also meant that if any bacteria survived the 169 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: heating process, they would not have the oxygen that they 170 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: needed to survive, although bacteria that did not need oxygen, 171 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: like the one that causes botulis um still could potentially thrive. 172 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:37,079 Speaker 1: But a Pair didn't really know about the connections between 173 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 1: micro organisms, food, spoilage, and illness. He didn't know what 174 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 1: temperatures it took to kill these organisms, or how long 175 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 1: they had to be at that temperature. He also didn't 176 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,559 Speaker 1: have a way to immediately tell whether he had been 177 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: successful at any of it, so he had to do 178 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,320 Speaker 1: all of this work by trial and error, including just 179 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: allowing time to pass before he opened his containers to 180 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: see whether the food than them had spoiled, or whether 181 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 1: the containers swelled up and burst or otherwise were visibly ruined. 182 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: His first successful attempts were in eighteen o four, nine 183 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: years after he started, but it took another five years 184 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,079 Speaker 1: before he was confident that he was seeing consistent results. 185 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 1: Since a pair was really sure that air was what 186 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: was causing food to spoil, he worked with glass containers 187 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: closed with an air tight seal. Some of the first 188 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,680 Speaker 1: experiments he did he used champagne bottles, which were designed 189 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: to be stronger than a lot of other glassware. Eventually 190 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: he was using custom made vessels, ones that were roughly 191 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 1: the size and shape of a champagne bottle for liquids, 192 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:42,680 Speaker 1: and ones that had a larger mouth more like a 193 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 1: jar for solid foods. Although the specifics varied from one 194 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: food to another, in every case the method of pair 195 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: developed followed the same basic four step process. In his 196 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,960 Speaker 1: words translated from the French quote, it consists principally, first 197 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: in enclosing in bottles the substance is to be preserved. Second, 198 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: in corking the bottles with the utmost care for it 199 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: is chiefly on the corking, that the success of the 200 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: process depends third in submitting these enclosed substances to the 201 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:17,239 Speaker 1: action of boiling water in a water bath bonea marie, 202 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 1: for a greater or less length of time, according to 203 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,320 Speaker 1: their nature, and in the manner pointed out with respect 204 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: to each several kind of substance force In withdrawing the 205 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: bottles from the water bath at the period described, Appair 206 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 1: stressed that the cork used for this absolutely had to 207 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:39,160 Speaker 1: be high quality. You could not skimp on it. Cheap 208 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,599 Speaker 1: cork could break or leak and let the air in, 209 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,959 Speaker 1: and that would ruin the contents. The same was true 210 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 1: for the glass, which had to be able to withstand 211 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: the pressure of the cooking process and being jostled around 212 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 1: and transport. Even with those precautions, though sometimes his bottles 213 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: did break during cooking, and for this reason he put 214 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: the bottles in jars into arpists made canvas or linen sacks, 215 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,120 Speaker 1: and then that would cushi the impact if they bumped 216 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:07,280 Speaker 1: against each other while they were cooking, and it would 217 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: also contain all the pieces if they shattered. I remember 218 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,920 Speaker 1: my grandmother doing the same thing after cooking the bottled 219 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 1: food for a greater or less length of time. According 220 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,600 Speaker 1: to their nature, A pair typically let things cool for 221 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: about fifteen minutes before draining the water from the bath. 222 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,079 Speaker 1: Then he lent everything cool for another two hours or 223 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: so before carefully removing and inspecting each bottle. Any that 224 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:34,320 Speaker 1: had cracked or developed some kind of flaw in the 225 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 1: glass were discarded, so were any that had moisture around 226 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:41,199 Speaker 1: the cork, which was a sign that they weren't actually airtight. 227 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: Even after all this careful inspection, though, there were still 228 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: times when the food went bad. A pair identified several 229 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 1: possible failure points as the cause of this. In some cases, 230 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: the bottle itself was to blame and had some kind 231 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: of flaw that wasn't immediately evident. But beyond that, he 232 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: noted four sources of spoilage quote one from a bad 233 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: cork too from bad corking, three from the bottle having 234 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: been filled too near the brim, and four from bad 235 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,840 Speaker 1: tying that was the tying of the cork to keep 236 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: it in place. He also noted, quote a single one 237 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 1: of these faults is sufficient to spoil a bottle more easily. 238 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,760 Speaker 1: Therefore a complication of them. The book that a pair 239 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: wrote to document all of this was called the Art 240 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: of Preserving All kinds of Animal and vegetable substances for 241 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:36,200 Speaker 1: several years, and it describes a number of modifications of 242 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 1: the basic process to get the best results when working 243 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: with various foods. This includes boiled meat, gravy, broth, various 244 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: cuts of meat, new laid eggs, milk, cream way vegetables peas, asparagus, 245 00:14:53,640 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: which are vegetables, but they get specific natures, various beans, artichokes, cauliflower, sorrel, herbs, fruits, juices, chestnuts, truffles, 246 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 1: and mushrooms, and soups. His breakdown of categories is funny 247 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: to me because there are some things where it's like, 248 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: peas and asparagus are vegetables. Also artichokes and cauliflower are well, 249 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: So there's the general vegetable version, and then there's this 250 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: is actually best for peas though, yes. So he found 251 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: peas to be the vegetable that was the hardest to 252 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: work with. If they were harvested too young, they were 253 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: so tender that they just disintegrated in the cooking process. 254 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: But if they were harvested just a few days later, 255 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 1: they tended to lose their flavor or else they would 256 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,960 Speaker 1: ferment and cause the bottles to explode. Milk had to 257 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: be condensed before preserving, and he found that unless egg 258 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,560 Speaker 1: yolks were added in there, the cream settled out of 259 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: it as flakes. When you used it later and heated 260 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: it back up, that would be reincorporated, but it wasn't 261 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: that attractive in the bottle. They're also canned eggs, recommending 262 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 1: actually laid eggs for the best results, put into a 263 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: jar with bread crumbs to fill up the spaces and 264 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: protect the eggs from breakage. For strawberries, he found that 265 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 1: he had to add a lot of sugar, but even 266 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: then their color really faded. A pair also detailed how 267 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 1: to use foods that had been preserved through his methods, 268 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: and in a lot of cases, who was basically I 269 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 1: use these how i'd use them normally, or I've warmed 270 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: this up with a little bit of salt. Reading through 271 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: that part of the book was really funny to me, 272 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: because a lot of it really is I drained the 273 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: water out of this and cook it and eat it. 274 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: Some of them was like I dilute this condensed soup 275 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: and then I eat it. It's uh, I don't know 276 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,800 Speaker 1: that part of it delighted me. In addition to keeping 277 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: bottles and jars of food on hand to see his 278 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: results for himself, a Pair also gave samples of them 279 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: to various people in the French army and navy and 280 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: other officials, who opened them up after months or years 281 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,440 Speaker 1: and then eight or served what was inside, and then 282 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: reported the results back to him. His book included a 283 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:06,480 Speaker 1: written report from the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry, 284 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: whose committee had received samples of pot consummate, milk, way, 285 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: green peas, small windsor beans, cherries, apricots, current juice, and raspberries. Overall, 286 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: the committee described each of these foods as retaining their 287 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: flavor and their character, and just generally being excellent. A 288 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,480 Speaker 1: Pair published his book, and in eighteen ten he collected 289 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: his monetary award. Within a year, the book had been 290 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,719 Speaker 1: translated into multiple other languages. He was also awarded a 291 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:39,679 Speaker 1: gold medal from the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry. 292 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,160 Speaker 1: A Pair seems to have understood that his invention could 293 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,520 Speaker 1: do a lot more than just provide food for the army, 294 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:48,920 Speaker 1: which had been part of the reasoning for this work 295 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,919 Speaker 1: in the first place, and his practical remarks at the 296 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: end of the book, he wrote, quote medicine will find 297 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,960 Speaker 1: in this method the means of relieving humanity, by the 298 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: facility of meeting every rewhere and in all seasons, animal substances, 299 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: and all kinds of vegetables, as well as their juices, 300 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: preserved with all their natural qualities and virtues, by the 301 00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 1: same means that will obtain resources infinitely precious in the 302 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 1: production of distant regions, preserved in their fresh state. He 303 00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:21,360 Speaker 1: went on to say, quote from this method will arise 304 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: a new branch of industry relative to the productions of France, 305 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: by their circulation through the interior and their exportation abroad 306 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: of the produce with which nature has blessed the different countries. 307 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:38,000 Speaker 1: And then he concluded, quote Finally, this invention cannot fail 308 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: to enlarge the domain of chemistry and become the common 309 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:44,880 Speaker 1: benefit of all countries, which will derive the most precious 310 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: fruits from it. So many advantages and an infinity of others, 311 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:53,159 Speaker 1: which the imagination of the reader will easily conceive produced 312 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:56,520 Speaker 1: by one and the same cause, are a source of astonishment. 313 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 1: He was really not wrong or overstating any of this. 314 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: Canning really changed the world in a lot of ways, 315 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: and it has also evolved a lot from a Pair's 316 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,640 Speaker 1: work with glass bottles and jars back in the late 317 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,119 Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds. Hit the highlights on 318 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: that evolution after a sponsor break. As is just so 319 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:28,440 Speaker 1: often the case, we can't really get into the details 320 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: of every single development in the world of canning in 321 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: the course of one episode, so we're just going to 322 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,880 Speaker 1: touch on some of the biggest moments. Almost immediately after 323 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,680 Speaker 1: Nicola a Pair worked out his methods using glass containers, 324 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 1: people also started doing the same thing with metal cans. 325 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:49,920 Speaker 1: In eighteen ten, Peter Durand of England was awarded a 326 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:53,480 Speaker 1: patent for preserving foods and a range of vessels, including 327 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: tin coated iron cans. These cans were made by rolling 328 00:19:57,520 --> 00:19:59,880 Speaker 1: a sheet of iron on a cylindrical form and then 329 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,119 Speaker 1: soldering the top and bottom of the can onto it. 330 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:05,479 Speaker 1: Steam escaped from a hol during cooking, and then that 331 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:09,400 Speaker 1: hole was soldered shut afterward. This, even though he got 332 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: the patent for it, was not his own invention, though 333 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: it had been quote communicated to him by a certain 334 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 1: foreigner living abroad. That person was Philippe de Girard of France. 335 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,920 Speaker 1: Who had apparently gone to London to pursue his work 336 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: because of administrative hassles at home. But since Britain and 337 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:32,919 Speaker 1: France were at war, de Girard could not apply for 338 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 1: a British patent himself, so Durand applied for the patent 339 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,399 Speaker 1: on his behalf and then sold it to Brian Duncan 340 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:43,880 Speaker 1: of Duncan Iron Works. Tin Coated iron had some advantages 341 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 1: over glass, the biggest being that it was not so fragile. 342 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:50,199 Speaker 1: But these early cams were also a lot different from 343 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,639 Speaker 1: the ones that are in use today. They were a 344 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,440 Speaker 1: whole lot thicker and heavier, and a tin smith had 345 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:59,520 Speaker 1: to make each one of them by hand. The solder 346 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: that was used to steal the seams also typically contained lead, 347 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,080 Speaker 1: which could lead into the food and cause lead poisoning. 348 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: The canning process itself could be incredibly time intensive, with 349 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:14,439 Speaker 1: the cooking process taking several hours at a minimum, and 350 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:17,280 Speaker 1: that meant the quality of the food often was not 351 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:20,479 Speaker 1: that great, which was compounded by the fact that a 352 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: lot of what was being canned was sort of the 353 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: cast off stuff. It wasn't pretty or fresh enough to 354 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: be sold at a market. Also, no one had invented 355 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:34,680 Speaker 1: a can opener, yet, so getting the food out of 356 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:37,680 Speaker 1: these tents was a hassle even with a can opener, 357 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: I struck. Even so, by eighteen twelve Duncan had a 358 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,199 Speaker 1: factory up and running, it wasn't providing food to the 359 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:50,360 Speaker 1: general population, though the cans themselves held up to thirty 360 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:54,240 Speaker 1: pounds of food, and Duncan's primary customer was the British 361 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:58,679 Speaker 1: Royal Navy. Even within the Navy, canned food was mostly 362 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: reserved for very long voyages or expeditions that wouldn't have 363 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: good opportunities to resupply, and also for hospitals that were 364 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:10,359 Speaker 1: treating sick and convalescing men. A Pair was still working 365 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:13,480 Speaker 1: in France and he opened the first commercial cannery there 366 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:16,680 Speaker 1: in eighteen twelve, although it was destroyed in eighteen fourteen 367 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: as a result of the Napoleonic Wars. He had to 368 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,560 Speaker 1: rebuild after the war was over. Pairs new factory used 369 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 1: ten cans rather than glass. Canning was also spreading beyond 370 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: Europe in the early nineteenth century, with Robert Ayer's opening 371 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,639 Speaker 1: a cannery in New York City in eighteen twelve and 372 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,399 Speaker 1: other canneries in the US following from there. But still 373 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,160 Speaker 1: people didn't really know why canning worked. They just knew 374 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 1: that it did most of the time. Sometimes cans swelled 375 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: up and exploded, or when they were opened, the food 376 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: inside was spoiled, but people just didn't really know why. 377 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 1: To protect their reputations, canneries often stored their products for 378 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: a while before shipping them out to customers, inspecting them 379 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: for signs of swelling or other indicators of spoilage before 380 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,639 Speaker 1: filling their orders. For the next few decades, the canning 381 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 1: industry continued to grow and evolve. Nicola Apare died on 382 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:14,760 Speaker 1: June three of eighteen forty one at the age of 383 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,840 Speaker 1: ninety one. Although he had received numerous awards for his 384 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: work during his lifetime, and he had also done other 385 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 1: work in the world of food. He had developed bully 386 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,919 Speaker 1: on cubes, he had created a method of extracting gelatine, 387 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: and he'd also developed an autoclave in addition to his 388 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:34,159 Speaker 1: work on canning. He died alone and was buried as 389 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,200 Speaker 1: a pauper. By the time of a Pair's death, canned 390 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:41,560 Speaker 1: food was becoming more available outside of military context, but 391 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,840 Speaker 1: often it hadn't really been accepted by the general public 392 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 1: in many places. That started to change as soldiers returned 393 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: from war having gotten used to eating canned foods while 394 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:55,639 Speaker 1: they were serving. For example, in the United States, Gail 395 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: Borden received a patent for canning condensed milk in eighteen 396 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: fifty six. His factory could make sixteen courts of it 397 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: per day, and during the US Civil War there was 398 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: so much demand for it from the Union Army that 399 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:13,359 Speaker 1: Borden had to license his method to other factories. Confederate 400 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,359 Speaker 1: soldiers got a taste for condensed milk in hospitals and 401 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: prisoner of war camps, and also after raiding Union supplies. 402 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,880 Speaker 1: Consumer demand for condensed milk and other canned foods rose 403 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: sharply in the United States after the war was over. 404 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: The first practical can openers were patented in the eighteen fifties, 405 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:35,560 Speaker 1: solving a long standing problem at that point. It was 406 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:39,400 Speaker 1: also in the mid nineteenth century that home canning technologies 407 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:43,240 Speaker 1: started to evolve. One step in that process was John L. 408 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: Mason's patent for the Mason jar with a threaded neck 409 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: that could accommodate a screw on cap, and that patent 410 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,760 Speaker 1: was issued in eighteen fifty eight. In eighteen sixty one, 411 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,800 Speaker 1: Isaac Solomon of Baltimore started adding calcium chloride to the 412 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:00,400 Speaker 1: water used for boiling cans, which raised its for sure 413 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: from two hundred twelve to two hundred forty degrees fahrenheit 414 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: that's from one hundred to one hundred fifteen degrees celsius. 415 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,879 Speaker 1: The higher heat let canneries reduce the cooking time required 416 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:15,719 Speaker 1: to make the food mostly safe. Then, after all of 417 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: this decades of canning being in existence, in eighteen sixty four, 418 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:26,720 Speaker 1: Louis Pasteur concretely established the link between microbio contamination and spoilage. 419 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: He was building on the work of earlier scientists who 420 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,400 Speaker 1: had determined that the yeast involved in fermentation was alive. 421 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,320 Speaker 1: He was trying to help a distiller figure out why 422 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:40,720 Speaker 1: his products were going sour during fermentation, and he discovered 423 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 1: that bacteria were contaminating the fermentation process. This led to 424 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:50,160 Speaker 1: the development of pasteurization. This started to give canners more 425 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 1: information to go on in terms of what temperatures they 426 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: needed to use in canning and for how long, But 427 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: at the same time there was still a lot of 428 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 1: trial and error involved. Consequently, cannaries were extremely protective of 429 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: their methods and formulas, and within the industry there was 430 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 1: a lot of corporate espionage and attempts to entice skilled 431 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 1: employees and the knowledge that they had developed away from 432 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: their employers. Yeah. Really, your your formula for what you 433 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: were canning and your process for doing it mostly safely, 434 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 1: was just like a highly valuable piece of information and 435 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 1: it totally made the difference on whether your cannary could 436 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 1: succeed or fail. The first machine cut rather than handmade 437 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,920 Speaker 1: tens came out in eighteen sixty eight, and that was 438 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: part of an overall trend within the canning industry to 439 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,119 Speaker 1: cut down on the time and labor that was required. 440 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:51,520 Speaker 1: At this point, low paid laborers, typically women, did a 441 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: lot of the food preparation, the packing, and the labeling. 442 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,640 Speaker 1: Skilled ten smiths, who were usually men and were paid 443 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: at a much higher rate, capped and sealed the cans. 444 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,880 Speaker 1: So the industry really worked toward mechanizing the lower paid 445 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 1: jobs to reduce the need for labor there entirely, and 446 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,960 Speaker 1: then automating the task that required specialized training so that 447 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:16,920 Speaker 1: they could be done by less experienced workers. Other innovations 448 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: shortened the cooking process, which both increased the factory's output 449 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,399 Speaker 1: and helped improve the quality of the food. One of 450 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,960 Speaker 1: these was the steam retort, patented by Andrew Shriver in 451 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:32,080 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy four. The steam retort was like an autoclave, 452 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,479 Speaker 1: which used steam and pressure to cook canned foods faster, 453 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 1: but which also tended to explode in its first iterations. 454 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 1: And there's just a surprising amount of things exploding in 455 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 1: the history of canning. In Samuel C. Prescott and William 456 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,320 Speaker 1: Underwood started taking some of the mystery out of all 457 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: of these times and temperatures that were needed for safe canning. 458 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,960 Speaker 1: Underwood was the director of Underwood Food Company, which canned 459 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 1: a variety of foods, including red devil ham. Prescott was 460 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:11,200 Speaker 1: an assistant chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Underwood 461 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 1: had gone to M. I. T For help because his 462 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 1: company's canned clams kept spoiling, and while they were inspecting 463 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,199 Speaker 1: their goods before shipping to keep the spoiled clams off 464 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: the market, This meant that they were just wasting a 465 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: lot of product. They were canning a bunch of stuff 466 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,679 Speaker 1: that they had to throw away. They discovered that the 467 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,960 Speaker 1: culprit was a spore forming bacterium that could survive boiling 468 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: for twenty four hours. Through trial and error, they discovered 469 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,720 Speaker 1: that ten minutes of exposure to pressurize steam at a 470 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty degrees celsius that's two degrees fahrenheit, would 471 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: kill it. Prescott and Underwood then started examining other foods, 472 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,239 Speaker 1: figuring out which micro organisms were causing their spoilage and 473 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: what needed to be done to kill those micro organisms. 474 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:00,200 Speaker 1: This was way more specific than the previous work, which 475 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: had kind of worked out the time and the temperature 476 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: but not really understanding why that was what worked most 477 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 1: of the time. Prescott turned this work into a career 478 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,920 Speaker 1: that focused a lot on food safety and microbiology and 479 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: played a huge role in reducing bacterial contamination and spoilage 480 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,000 Speaker 1: and canned foods. But in spite of his work, some 481 00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: things continued to be a problem, including specifically botuli is um. 482 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: In the United States, for example, there weren't clear standards 483 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,240 Speaker 1: for botulism prevention in the canning industry until the nineteen twenties. 484 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,560 Speaker 1: That was after a series of outbreaks in the nineteen teens. 485 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 1: Batualism contamination has also continued to be a rare but 486 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: deadly issue in foods that are canned at home. Home 487 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: canning was becoming more widely available and easier to do. 488 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:51,800 Speaker 1: By the late nineteenth century, The Ball Corporation started producing 489 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:57,400 Speaker 1: home canning jars. In four Care glass manufacturing corporations started 490 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 1: doing the same thing. In nineteen o three and nineteen fifteen, 491 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: Alexander Care was awarded a patent for a two piece 492 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 1: metal canning lid, which replaced more complicated and harder to 493 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: use lid systems from earlier models. Care built on the 494 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 1: work of Julius Landsburger, who had created a canning lid 495 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: that had incorporated a ceiling gasket. The first pressure canners 496 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: for home use were developed by the early nineteen twenties, 497 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: although at first they were so expensive that multiple households 498 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 1: in the same family or community usually had to share 499 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:33,360 Speaker 1: one among them to make it cost effective. In nineteen 500 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,880 Speaker 1: o four, the Maxim's Machine Company of New York unveiled 501 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:41,040 Speaker 1: the double seam can. This involved a machine that rolled 502 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 1: a metal sheet onto itself, creating a seam that only 503 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: needed to be soldered on the outside. The machine also 504 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 1: sealed the can and cramped the edges. In addition to 505 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: making this whole process a lot less labor intensive, this 506 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 1: also meant that there was no longer lead containing sawder 507 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: on the inside of a can. The filling and opping 508 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 1: process also became a lot easier. Before this point, most 509 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: of the industry was filling cans through a hole in 510 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: the cap and then ceiling just that whole. It took 511 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: about fifteen years before double steam cans were really reliable, 512 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 1: though before that they again tended to burst at the 513 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: same by commercial canning lines could produce about thirty five 514 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,600 Speaker 1: thousand cans of food per day. It's a huge increase 515 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,280 Speaker 1: from the sixty cans a day back when tinsmiths were 516 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: making cans by hand, and the cans today look a 517 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: lot like they did in nineteen ten, although now they're 518 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 1: more specialized coatings to protect the food quality, and their 519 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: innovations like peel tops and aluminum cans for beverages. The 520 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:45,800 Speaker 1: industry has also seen a range of criticisms over the years, 521 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:50,200 Speaker 1: involving weather canned foods are healthy, everything from the botuli 522 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: is um contamination that we already talked about, to the 523 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 1: salt content of the food, to the use of things 524 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,720 Speaker 1: like bisfan al a and can construction. Even so, at 525 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:04,240 Speaker 1: least one thousand, five hundred different items are sold in 526 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 1: tin plated steel cans today, and Americans alone used more 527 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,440 Speaker 1: than thirty six billion cans of food per year. In 528 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,959 Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, the global canned food market was valued at 529 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: nine one point four billion dollars. That's billion. With the 530 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 1: development of reliable, cost effective canning has had such an 531 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,320 Speaker 1: enormous impact on the world that it's kind of difficult 532 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:31,240 Speaker 1: to describe it in a concise way. In general, canning 533 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 1: has made the global food supply more homogenized, so many 534 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:39,080 Speaker 1: foods became available outside of their regular growing season and 535 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:41,880 Speaker 1: outside of the region where they are grown, prepared, and 536 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 1: traditionally eaten. Many farms moved from growing a variety of 537 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 1: crops that their immediate community would need to growing a 538 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:53,080 Speaker 1: few crops to be sold to processing companies. The farms 539 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:58,000 Speaker 1: themselves consolidated, and so did the canning companies. Clearly, there 540 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:01,120 Speaker 1: is more involved with that whole shift than just canning, 541 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 1: but canning is a significant piece of it. Yeah, Canning 542 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,000 Speaker 1: also made a lot of other things possible or at 543 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: least a whole lot easier, including everything from the westward 544 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 1: expansion of the United States to long term scientific voyages 545 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,880 Speaker 1: to warfare to food relief efforts. Like there's a lot 546 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 1: of stuff that rests on the ability to get food 547 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: to people, and canning made a lot of that a 548 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,840 Speaker 1: lot easier, whether people are buying canned goods from a 549 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: store or canning food themselves. Canning has also made it 550 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,240 Speaker 1: possible for people to keep more food and more types 551 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,120 Speaker 1: of food on hands for emergencies in a way that 552 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:42,120 Speaker 1: just wasn't possible before it was developed. I mean, you 553 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: might have a whole lot of dried fruit and and 554 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:50,840 Speaker 1: dried beans and hard tech and you know, some salted meat. 555 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,360 Speaker 1: That's a whole different world from just being able to 556 00:33:54,480 --> 00:34:03,560 Speaker 1: open a can of corn anytime you want cane peaches, yeah, um, 557 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:08,319 Speaker 1: canned tomatoes when tomatoes are not in season. It's like, 558 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:10,799 Speaker 1: I mean, there's a whole other part of it about 559 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,239 Speaker 1: how things like air travel have made it possible to 560 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:18,319 Speaker 1: get foods that are in season some other completely different 561 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:20,799 Speaker 1: part of the world. Uh. That's that's that's like a 562 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:24,959 Speaker 1: whole other story. Um. I didn't write this in here, 563 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,759 Speaker 1: but like, if you have the means to contribute to 564 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 1: a food bank near you, either with some canned goods 565 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:34,919 Speaker 1: or some money, there's such a huge need right now, 566 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 1: and like I know that's not within the means of 567 00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: everyone right now, but like, if you can, there's a 568 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,200 Speaker 1: definite way to help people in this moment that we're 569 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,319 Speaker 1: living in. Yeah, I mean that's that's to me, Like 570 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,560 Speaker 1: the real gift of canning, at least in terms of 571 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: how it impacts our modern world, is that, like there 572 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 1: are so many ways of giving that are now available 573 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:57,200 Speaker 1: to people. You know, even you probably have it in 574 00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: mass Tusetts. I know we have it here in our 575 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: community where the mail carrier will periodically be like we're 576 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:06,719 Speaker 1: doing a canning drive and all you gotta do is 577 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:08,040 Speaker 1: put it in a little bag and hang it on 578 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,959 Speaker 1: your mailbox and that goes to people that actually need 579 00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:14,800 Speaker 1: that food. So just small things like that that seemings 580 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:17,480 Speaker 1: insignificant in your daily life, but it's a huge impact. 581 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:23,080 Speaker 1: Thanks to Nicola A pair. Yeah, um, so I'm glad 582 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:25,160 Speaker 1: we finally moved all of that up to the top 583 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: of the list in this moment where it seems particularly relevant. 584 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:34,160 Speaker 1: I have some listener mail from Rebecca Um. Rebecca says, Hi, 585 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:36,879 Speaker 1: Tracy and Holly, I wanted to write to you about 586 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 1: your recent episode about Ignatius Sancho and the episode you 587 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,840 Speaker 1: mentioned that there is a portrait of Sancho by Thomas 588 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:47,120 Speaker 1: Gainesboro in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. I 589 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,400 Speaker 1: live in Ottawa and last week the National Gallery reopened 590 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: for the first time since the start of the pandemic, 591 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 1: and I was lucky enough to be able to visit. 592 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,279 Speaker 1: I wasn't sure where the portrait would be or if 593 00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:59,719 Speaker 1: it would even be on display, but while walking through 594 00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 1: the allery, I saw the portrait and immediately knew it 595 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:07,160 Speaker 1: was him. The accompanying description noted Sancho's quote easy pose, 596 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:11,359 Speaker 1: saying his quote nonchalance and self confidence were considered appropriate 597 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: for men of status, which I thought perfectly match your 598 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,279 Speaker 1: description of him in the episode. Thanks for everything you 599 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,439 Speaker 1: do on the show. I've been listening for eight years 600 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:21,440 Speaker 1: and I'm always struck by how thoughtful you both are 601 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,400 Speaker 1: in your choice of topics, your choice of words, and 602 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: how you approach difficult issues in history. Stay healthy and 603 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,200 Speaker 1: sending lots of happy thoughts from Canada. All the best, Rebecca. 604 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:34,400 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for this note. Rebecca um I. 605 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:36,520 Speaker 1: I am glad to know that it's on display right 606 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:41,520 Speaker 1: now in uh in Ottawa. It's it's always tricky when 607 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,799 Speaker 1: you know something is in a collection of a particular museum. 608 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 1: That doesn't necessarily mean that it's on display in the 609 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:52,840 Speaker 1: museum right now. Correct. Yeah, So anyway, thanks for letting 610 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,560 Speaker 1: us know if you would like to write to us 611 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,759 Speaker 1: about this or any other podcast or at history podcast 612 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:01,760 Speaker 1: at i heart radio dot com and there were also 613 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:04,680 Speaker 1: all over social media at ms in history so where 614 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:07,840 Speaker 1: you'll find our Facebook and pinterest, on Twitter and Instagram, 615 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,719 Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to our show on Apple podcasts, 616 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, and anywhere else that you 617 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:20,480 Speaker 1: get podcasts. Stuff you missed in History Class is a 618 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,759 Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I 619 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 620 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.