On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 567

Peru have been freeze-drying potatoes in the Andes for millennia To make chuño, which can be stored indefinitely, they trample potatoes to break down their structure and expose them constantly to the dry, cold mountain air, so that they freeze at night and lose some moisture by sublimation, then thaw during the day and lose more water by evaporation Chuño develops a strong flavor from the disruption of the potato tissues and long exposure to the air and sun, and is reconstituted in water to make stews In modern industrial freeze-drying, foods are quickly chilled to as low as –70ºF/–57ºC, then slightly warmed and subjected to a vacuum, which pulls their water molecules out and dries them Because the foods aren’t heated or exposed to oxygen, their flavor and color remain relatively fresh Many fruits and vegetables are freeze-dried today and used as is for snack foods, or reconstituted with water in instant soup mixes, emergency rations, and camping foods Fermentation and Pickling: Sauerkraut and Kimchi, Cucumber Pickles, Olives Fermentation is one of the oldest and simplest means of preserving foods It requires no particular kind of climate, no cooking, and so no expenditure of fuel: just a container, which can be a mere hole in the ground, and perhaps some salt or seawater Olives and sauerkraut — fermented cabbage — are familiar examples of fermented fruits and vegetables An overlapping category is the pickle, a food preserved by immersion in brine or a strong acid such as vinegar Brines often encourage fermentation, and fermentation generates preservative acids, so the term “pickle” is applied to both fermented and unfermented preparations of cucumbers and other foods Less familiar but intriguing relatives of ...camping foods Fermentation and Pickling: Sauerkraut and Kimchi, Cucumber Pickles, Olives Fermentation is one of the oldest and simplest means of preserving foods It requires no particular kind of climate, no cooking, and so... examples of fermented fruits and vegetables An overlapping category is the pickle, a food preserved by immersion in brine or a strong acid such as vinegar Brines often encourage fermentation, and fermentation generates... preservative acids, so the term “pickle” is applied to both fermented and unfermented preparations of cucumbers and other foods Less familiar but intriguing relatives of