Natural Food Preservatives

>

Preserving food for lengthy time was a necessity of mankind since time immemorial. The availability of particular food items was limited to a specific season. Man's desire to use them throughout the year motivated him to invent specific methods by which food items could be stored for a longer duration without having a significant change in taste.

Food items can be categorized into perishable and non-perishable food items. Perishable items are those which get spoilt soon and are a lot more prone to the attack of micro-organisms. Examples of some such items are vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, milk and so on. These items have a highly brief shelf life. On the other hand non-perishable foods are those which take a lengthy duration to get spoilt like rice, wheat, oils, dried pulses etc.

The aim of employing preservatives is to convert these perishable food items to non-perishable ones or extend the shelf-life. Food gets spoilt due to the attack of micro-organisms like bacteria, fungi, yeast and so on. They bring some undesirable chemical changes in the food. Food preservatives inhibit these chemical modifications through many methods.

Food preservatives are of two varieties: natural and artificial and both attempt to preserve the quality, edibility and nutritive value of the foods.

Classification of Natural Food Preservatives

Depending on their mode of action, food preservatives are broadly classified into three kinds.
• Antimicrobial preservatives which inhibit the growth of the microorganisms
• Antioxidant preservatives which inhibit the oxidation of food ingredients like fats, lipids etc
• Preservatives which target the enzymes inside the food stuffs and hence avoid the natural activities like ripening of food or post harvest ageing of food stuffs.

Some of the natural food preservatives consist of substances like salt, sugar, rosemary extract, vital oils, vinegar and so on. Out of these, substances like salt, sugar and oils are used in our day-to-day life. Ongoing study is targeted towards the search of some new natural food preservatives. Let us discuss about a couple of preservatives in detail.

Salt: Salt has been utilised to preserve food items like meat and fish due to the fact ages. At very high concentrations of salt the cells of the micro-organisms loose water and dehydrate by the procedure of osmosis. It inhibits the growth of bacteria, yeasts and molds by the process of osmosis. Salting of meat preserves it for years. In the course of pickling, raw mangoes, tomatoes and so on are treated with considerably large amounts of salt. Even some vegetables like cabbage cauliflower and cucumber can be preserved by pickling them with salting.

Sugar: Sugar is a carbohydrate and the mechanism by which it shops food is similar as that of salt. This substance also dehydrates the microorganisms by the method of osmosis. There are two ways in which the food stuffs can be stored in sugar.

1. Thick concentrated sugar syrup can be ready and the food substances can be immersed in it.
2. The food items can be cooked in sugar until sugar reaches the point of crystallization. A higher concentration of sugar sweetens the food and either inhibits the growth of microorganisms or kills them by the procedure of osmosis. Sugar is typically employed to preserve fruits like apple, peach, pear, plum and so on in the form of jams and jellies.

Vinegar: This acidic solution is prepared by the fermentation of sugar and water answer. The method of fermentation is carried beyond the alcohol stage. Vinegar contains acetic acid which kills the bacteria due to its acidity or lower pH. Vinegar is employed to preserve meats and vegetables in the course of pickling. Even in the course of the process of canning vinegar is employed to improve the shelf life of the food items.

Rosemary Extract: This is ready by the distillation of rosemary leaves and is identified for its pleasant aroma and flavor. This substance has been used as a preservative considering that ages because of its antioxidant properties. It prevents the oxidation of food stuffs therefore retaining the flavor and color of the food. The natural compounds present in the Rosemary extract like phenolic diterpenes, rosmarinic acid, carnosol are responsible for its antioxidant properties.

Some Classic Practices of Food Preservation

With the advancement in technology, man has conquered many tough situations. In olden days, indicates of transport had been not that efficient and moreover crops and vegetables grown in a particular area were highly significantly dependent on the seasonal conditions in that area. These conditions encouraged individuals at that time to adapt certain practices which helped them to preserve food all through the year. Some of these classic practices are as follows -

• Indian plums frequently recognized as ber in Hindi and regu pandu in Telugu is a seasonal fruit which is usually seen in the marketplace in between Jan - march. A dish known as regu adaa helps to preserve it for the whole year. To prepare this, seeds are removed and the fruits are beaten into a semi-solid paste. Soon after adding salt, the paste is produced into small biscuits and then sun dried.
• Cluster beans typically recognized as Guar-ki-phalli in Hindi and goru chikkudu in Telugu is a nutritious vegetable. In order to preserve it we have to cut them into medium size pieces and soak them in buttermilk along with salt. This has to be soaked for a span of 24 hours and then sundried. These sundried pieces can be fried in oil and eaten along with rice.
• Coccinia cordifolia frequently identified as kundru in Hindi and dondakayi in Telugu can be cut into pieces. Right after applying salt to these pieces, they can be sun-dried and later these pieces can be stored for a long duration. Whenever needed they can be fried and taken along with rice.
• Brinjal commonly recognized as baingan in Hindi and vankai in Telugu is pretty typically applied vegetable across India. Even this vegetable can be cut into pieces and dried in sun right after applying salt. Before cooking the dried pieces have to be soaked for half an hour and then can be utilized to prepare a tasty curry along with tamarind water and jaggery.
• Mango - Fantastic raw mangoes are out there only in the summer season. They can be preserved in diverse forms of pickles. Apart from that small mango pieces can be sundried soon after application of salt. These mango pieces can be added to dhal via out the year.

It is true that these days we get all the food stuffs all through the year with a variation in price. Fruits are no longer seasonal and they are ripened with the aid of chemicals like ethylene. A couple of months back around November 2010 there was a heavy boost in the marketplace cost of all the vegetables. This crisis circumstance stayed for a span of 3 months but it affected a lot of folks. If we can adopt these regular practices in our day to day life we can be ready to face any sort of odd scenarios. Not only this, we can avoid the wastage of tremendous quantities of food items also.