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Tom Seversike - Writer
The canning of food is something we are all familiar with. Most people know what it is, but I’m guessing that fewer know how it works or where it came from. The man who started this method was known as Nicolas Appert. He was a Frenchman who, in 1809, was asked by the government to find a way to preserve food for long periods of time for the military. He came up with the idea of sealing the food in a tight jar and then sterilizing the food with heat. The heat kills all of the microorganisms that cause food spoilage. The sealing of the jar prevents other microorganisms from entering the jar or can through the air that may enter if it is not sealed tightly enough. To this day, this method and newer fashions of it are used to preserve food. For instance, most food canned in the modern fashion has to go through a process before it can be sealed. The food that needs processing, such as fruits and vegetables, will have to be cleaned then submerged in hot water or steam to soften it. Next, depending on how you want the food, it will be peeled, cored, sliced, diced, grated, mashed or undertake some other transformation. After this, the food is placed in the jar with a syrup or brine to prevent air from entering. Last, the food goes through a final heating process which expands the food, forcing out any remaining air and creating a partial vacuum inside the jar. This is why when you open a jar of food, there is a pop as it opens. That is the vacuum being broken inside the jar and the air entering. In the military during the nineteenth century, French soldiers would open the tightly sealed jars with their bayonets since can openers were very hard to find because canned food had only just been invented. Canned food is a multi-billion dollar business. In addition to contributing to the economy since canned food can last so long, it can easily be used in food drives and other charity events. About 46 million people are fed with charity soup kitchens and food drives every year. Canned food is a very helpful and complicated process that benefits us more than we see. During war or famine, canned food was instrumental in people surviving by providing much needed nutrients when other food sources had been depleted. In conclusion, canned food is more useful than I thought it was prior to researching this topic. My name is Tom Seversike, and I am the author of “Kicking Peppers” a column of arbitrary stories and facts. I was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas at the age of zero. I have moved from Arkansas to North Carolina, Washington and now here. I have two younger brothers. I play trumpet in the band and sing in the choir. I joined the school newspaper because one day, I was walking home with Mary Thayn and kicked a green bell pepper. I jokingly said, “I should make a column in the school paper called Kicking Peppers.” And so, now I am writing.
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