Food Preservation History

Reading Time: 5 minutes

 

Learn about food preservation history and the natural ways to preserve meat while retaining nutritional value and flavor.

By Sherri Talbot

Humans began domesticating livestock for meat about 10,000 years ago, starting with goats and sheep and quickly moving to cattle, pigs, and other animals. Electric refrigerators have existed for only a little over a century, compared with more than 9,000 years of finding natural ways to preserve meat while retaining its nutritional value and flavor.

Colder climates allowed for limited natural refrigeration using ice and in-ground insulation. Warmer areas relied on smoke, drying, fermentation, salt, and other spices to preserve the much-needed protein from large livestock. From these ancestral experiments come our modern-day jerkies, sausages, hams, and more. 

Salting/Brining 

Sumerians, the earliest known settled city-state, left writings behind about their culture, trade, beliefs, and food. From these, we know that as early as 1600 BC — and probably earlier — salt has been used to preserve meat. Some European monasteries in the medieval period are believed to have produced salt by slowly evaporating seawater. Salt caravans crossed the Sahara in the 1300s. Turkish horsemen are believed to have carried meat on the backs of their horses, between the saddle and the horse, so that the meat would be tenderized and salted. 

The act of salting meat not only flavors it but also draws out moisture, which can lead to bacterial growth. Chopped or ground meats might have salt mixed in, while larger pieces may be sprinkled with salt or even buried in it. This might be used as the first step in drying or smoking meats or sausages, as it not only preserves the food but also changes its texture, increasing resilience. 

Wet brining usually involves marinating meat in a mix of salt and water for hours or days. It may also involve injections of salt and water into the meat, but this is more common in our current industrial food system. Wet brine is used for foods that would otherwise be dry or tough, such as hot dogs or corned beef. 

Drying 

Drying may be one of the oldest methods of preserving meat. It’s simple, prevents the growth of bacteria and — as a side benefit — may have made meat more portable for nomadic peoples to carry with them. Early drying was done using only sunshine and fresh air. Some sources suggest that wind drying might have been used to process food even before cooking. 

Despite the convenience of dried meat, loss of water also means a loss of flavor and texture that most people find satisfying in their food. Hence, many cultures began adding salt and spices to their meats to help preserve the enjoyment of eating. As humanity gave up nomadic lifestyles, fruit, wine, and other substances were used to enhance the flavors. 

Modern-day methods, of course, can include any number of devices designed to speed up the process — convection, microwave, freeze-drying, thermal, and vacuum drying are all used in our more industrialized societies. These methods are not only faster but also provide more predictable, even drying while preventing the need to fend off wild animals or your hungry house cat. 

Smoking 

Some parts of the world have weather patterns that make traditional wind- or sun-drying difficult. Whether due to humidity, lack of sunshine, unpredictable winds, or other factors, early humans in these areas discovered that smoking was a preferable method of meat preservation. 

Different cultures developed their own methods for smoking, with some making use of already-smoky chimneys, others hanging large chunks of meat in barn rafters, and still others building entire sheds and racks for the specific purpose of smoking. Some groups smoked a variety of meats; others specialized in meats valued in their area, such as salmon, bison, or hams. 

Smoking was done over a long period of time, with different regions often using their own specific choice of fuel for the fires. Some areas were more likely to use maple, while other cultures preferred fruit trees, grapevine cuttings, or even corn cobs. Here, too, available salt and spices were commonly used to flavor the meats. 

Not all smoking is the same, of course. “Cold smoking” is needed for food preservation. The temperature during cold smoking is kept too low to actually cook the meat, while still ensuring it is constantly engulfed in smoke. This prevents insects, bacteria, and mold from developing and allows the meat time to dry and age without spoiling. Cold-smoked products sometimes take weeks for a finished product.  

“Hot smoke” is a method more commonly used in modern times. This style of smoking works faster, and the fires are built hotter. Its purpose is mainly to give meat flavor, not to preserve it. 

Sausage 

As well as concerns about preserving meat, transportation and storage were considerations in ancient societies. During the nomadic period, nothing was wasted, including using skins, stomachs, and intestines to carry everything needed to survive. This practice, combined with an understanding of smoking and spicing meats, probably led to what we now know as sausage.  

Even when people began to settle in one place, linked sausages were an easy way to preserve meat for trade, travel, or storage. Goat and beef were common in early sausages, and they were dried in cool temperatures, cold-smoked, or fermented to enhance their flavor and allow for refrigeration-free storage.  

Avoiding waste remained an important part of survival in settled societies, and sausages provided a way to ingest calories that would otherwise have been unpalatable. Mentions of blood sausage — which is just what it sounds like — appear in Egyptian murals and are mentioned in Homer’s The Odyssey. 

Today, we define sausage as any meat that has been chopped or puréed, spiced, and then put back together in some way. They may be in patties or links, and we more commonly eat fresh sausages, designed to be cooked before eating. Pork is the most common meat choice, and while some sausages are still made with animal intestines, modern sausages are also commonly wrapped in synthetic casings made of collagen, cellulose, or plastic.

Despite the invention of refrigeration, many of these ancient styles of meat preservation continue to be prized around the world and are often considered high-end products. The methods used to create these may have become more industrialized, but the basis for our modern-day sausages, dried meats, smoked hams, and more has existed since the earliest civilizations. 

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Sherri Talbot is the co-owner and operator of Saffron and Honey Homestead in Windsor, Maine. She raises endangered, heritage-breed livestock and hopes someday to make education and writing on conservation breeding her full-time job. Details can be found at SaffronandHoneyHomestead.com or on Facebook.

Originally published in the September/October 2026 issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.