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Preservation of food - Printable Version

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Preservation of food - Hanna - 09-15-2013

How did the Roman Perserve their food? In Oktober I am to do some theme about perservation of food in the ironage, in the leving museum Hjemsted Oldtidspark. I am looking for recipies and fact, and hopefully somthing to tray aut. Idea


Preservation of food - Flavivs Aetivs - 09-15-2013

I can't say myself, but this thread may be interesting:

http://www.romanarmytalk.com/20-roman-re-enactment-a-reconstruction/321846-3-days-of-marching-rations.html?limitstart=0&start=30

We discussed heavily the possibility of how meat could be preserved, as most meats back then had the risk of parasitic worms, many species of which can burrow straight through skin.


Preservation of food - Vindex - 09-15-2013

You may find something on here

http://pass-the-garum.blogspot.co.uk/

And the blogger is very good at answering questions on FaceBook.


Preservation of food - Michael Kerr - 09-16-2013

Although this doc is not exclusive to Roman times it does go over different food preservation techniques.

http://giles.freehostia.com/Docs/Period%20Food%20Preservation%20Techniques.doc

Regards
Michael Kerr


Preservation of food - Carlton Bach - 09-16-2013

Limited on tiome now, but I'd ask you to ping me towards the weekend to get me to write down stuff in more detail.
Grain was apparently toasted or dried and stored in ventilated containers. In northern provinces there are still occasional ground silos and indications they may have used grünkern-style kiln-dried unripe grain.
Meat was salted, smoked, air-dried, and may also have been immersed in whey.
Cheese was smoked or air-dried, or immersed in brine
Many fruit and vegetables were dried, some were brined or cured. I strongly suspect the existence of lactic acid fermentation, but cannot prove it.
Certainly quinces were preserved in honey to produce a specific confection
Grapes could be coated in slip or wax to preserve them, though that is more of a parlour trick that a scalable technique
Pulses were dried and stored much like grain
I'm not sure about the techniques for storing fruit, will need to recheck the sources, but IIRC they kept durable fruit in cellars over the winter.
Fish could be salted, smoked, dried, or kept alive in water (often over remarkable distances and time spans).
If you can get your hands on it, there's an excellent book on the subject by David Thurmond called 'For her Bounty Knows No Winter (A Handbook of Food Processing ion Classical Rome) that seems to have gone into hiding right now and is available from Brill at the usual fantastically ridiculous price.


Preservation of food - Michael Kerr - 09-16-2013

Hi, the book you mentioned by David Thurmond is available from scribd if you are not a subscriber you can get 24 hour access for a small fee (forgotten how much) & download a lot of books, papers & articles in that 24 hour period.
Regards
Michael Kerr


Preservation of food - Hanna - 09-19-2013

Pleace do that Carlton Bach and with source Smile


Preservation of food - Urselius - 09-19-2013

Belisarius' 'hard tack' went off during his sea journey to Africa before his Vandal campaign, causing some hundreds of deaths amongst his troops from poisoning (possibly ergotic). Apparently it hadn't been baked properly, just roasted using a bath furnace (the savings made by the use of this short-cut were pocketed by the beaurocrat supplying the biscuit). It is believed that this buccellum was very like ship's biscuit used as a long term food source on ships in the age of sail (Nelson etc.).