How does the food making up a typical menu get from the pasture to the plate?
First course Tinned minestrone soup The canning process and history
Since 1825, canning has provided a way for people to store foods for extremely long periods of time. The fresh produce is taken quickly to the factory for canning so that as many vitamins as possible are retained. The ingredients are then washed, peeled and sliced by machine before being put in the can. The food is then boiled in the can to kill bacteria and is sealed to prevent any new bacteria from getting in. Since the food in the can is completely sterile, it does not spoil. Once you open the can, bacteria can enter and begin attacking the food, so you have to remove the food from the can and refrigerate after opening. The origins of minestrone soup
A thick soup of Italian origin containing assorted vegetables, beans, pasta such as vermicelli or macaroni, and herbs in a meat or vegetable broth. The cooker
The first historical record of a stove dates back to 1490 in Alsace, France. It was made entirely of bricks and tiles. Bread Commercial production of bread
The modern commercial process used in large bakeries is known as the Chorleywood Bread Process (CBP) and was developed in 1961 by the Flour Milling and Baking Research Association at Chorleywood. This method produces bread and other fermented bakery goods without the need to ferment the dough in bulk. Dough development in CBP is achieved during high speed mixing by intense mechanical working of the dough in a few minutes. Not only does this save considerable time (which helps keep down the cost), it also produces bread which is better in respect of volume, colour and keeping qualities. CBP is now by far the most common method used throughout all sectors of the bread baking industry. Butter The making and uses of butter date as far back as 2000 B.C. Butter is a food product which is made exclusively from milk or cream, or both, with or without common salt, and containing at least 80 per cent milk fat by weight. Butter is essentially the fat of milk. It is usually made from cream and is usually salted. However, it can also be made from acidulated or bacteriologically soured cream and saltless (sweet) butters are also available. Well into the 19th century butter was still made from cream that had been allowed to stand and sour naturally. The cream was then skimmed from the top of the milk and poured into a wooden tub. Butter making was done by hand in butter churns. The natural souring process is, however, a very sensitive one and infection by foreign micro-organisms often spoiled the result. Today's commercial butter making is a product of the knowledge and experience gained over the years in such matters as hygiene, bacterial acidifying and heat treatment, as well as the rapid technical development that has led to the advanced machinery now used. The commercial cream separator was introduced at the end of the 19th century, the continuous churn had been commercialized by the middle of the 20th century.
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