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Quiz about Food Preservation without Ice or Cans
Quiz about Food Preservation without Ice or Cans

Food Preservation without Ice or Cans Quiz


How was food preserved in the 19th Century and before? They had ice and were starting to can back then, but that makes it too easy. This quiz is about other ways.

A multiple-choice quiz by littlepup. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
littlepup
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
383,942
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
405
Last 3 plays: turtle52 (9/10), Kabdanis (5/10), mandy2 (6/10).
Question 1 of 10
1. Jams and jellies kept fruit till the next summer. What ingredient performed the preserving? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Armies and sailors lived on salt pork. What kept the meat from spoiling? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Pickles could be cucumbers, or cauliflower, beets, any sort of veggie. What preserved them? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Jerked meat was a mainstay of Native Americans or hunters camping out for days, who could keep their meat fresh with little work. What preserved jerky, or "jerked venison"? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Potatoes, beets, carrots, cabbages and similar things kept fresh all winter, in the right conditions. How'd they do that? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Corned beef? What's that all about? Beef flavored with corn? What kept it fresh in the days before refrigeration? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Sauerkraut needs canning, right? True or false?


Question 8 of 10
8. Candied orange peel, candied ginger and other such goodies are preserved by "candying." What's that? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Bread without preservatives went stale quickly. A breadbox and some tricks helped, but once bread was hard as a rock, was it good for anything involving human food? Yes or no?


Question 10 of 10
10. Bacon. Yum! What kept 19th century bacon from spoiling? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 16 2024 : turtle52: 9/10
Mar 16 2024 : Kabdanis: 5/10
Mar 16 2024 : mandy2: 6/10
Mar 16 2024 : briarwoodrose: 9/10
Mar 16 2024 : Luckycharm60: 7/10
Mar 16 2024 : wjames: 7/10
Mar 16 2024 : genoveva: 8/10
Mar 14 2024 : Guest 67: 7/10
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Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Jams and jellies kept fruit till the next summer. What ingredient performed the preserving?

Answer: Sugar

Victorian jams and jellies were about 1:1 sugar and fruit. That's not exactly diabetic-friendly or low-cal, but the sugar made the product so sweet it discouraged bacteria. The fruit was usually cooked and that may have sterilized the container in a rudimentary sort of way, but jelly with just paper lain over the top, kept at room temperature, survived well enough, thanks to all that sugar.
2. Armies and sailors lived on salt pork. What kept the meat from spoiling?

Answer: Salt

Salt pork was made by putting cuts of hog in a barrel full of salt, or very salty brine. The meat absorbed the salt completely, and when the barrel was opened, one hoped that a grayish, but sweet-smelling edible meat was withdrawn. I say "hoped," because government contractors sometimes skimped on salt to make more profit when filling military contracts.

But carefully made at butchering time when the weather was cool, and stored in the cellar, salt pork was/is quite good. It's extremely salty, but the salt can be removed by parboiling it and changing the water, then stewing, frying, or cooking like fresh pork. Soldiers or farm laborers who had been marching or working in the heat all day and sweating madly were probably glad to taste the extra salt and didn't mind.
3. Pickles could be cucumbers, or cauliflower, beets, any sort of veggie. What preserved them?

Answer: Acidity

Pickles were made two ways: putting the veggies in vinegar, or putting them in a salt brine and making fermented pickles. Either way, the goal was to keep them in an acid solution too strong to allow bacteria to grow. Vinegar is obviously acidic, but fermented pickles are a bit more complicated.

The brine creates an environment so salty that only certain healthful bacteria can grow, and as they grow, they create acid. Eventually the brine is too acidic and the bacteria die, but they've done their job.

The salt protected the veggies first, and now the acid keeps them safe. But if you don't like strong flavors, you might want to rinse them off a bit first, because they're stronger than modern pickles. They don't need canned or refrigerated, though. Just let them live in their brine in a big barrel. One will sometimes see a pickle barrel in a store in a movie set in the Old West.
4. Jerked meat was a mainstay of Native Americans or hunters camping out for days, who could keep their meat fresh with little work. What preserved jerky, or "jerked venison"?

Answer: Drying

Jerking meat worked best on low-fat meat, just the kind that hunters would find on wild animals, rather than barnyard-fattened cows. Lowfat meat was cut in thin strips so it would dry quickly and hung on an easily built wooden frame to dry. Cool weather, such as fall hunting season, worked best.

There were two main risks during the drying: flies laying eggs, and spoilage due to slow drying time. Both could be solved by keeping a low fire going under the meat. The smoke chased away flies, and the extra warmth kept the meat from spoiling and drove the moisture out faster. Jerked meat could be made without salt, but the result was even more sure to keep if first soaked in salt or other spices. That meant carrying salt around on the hunting trip--possible, certainly, but one more bit of weight.
5. Potatoes, beets, carrots, cabbages and similar things kept fresh all winter, in the right conditions. How'd they do that?

Answer: The vegetables were still alive

Biennial plants store their nutrients over their first winter, then use the nutrients to produce seed their second summer and die. But they're meant to stay alive one winter, and if kept in the right conditions, they do. Some don't mind being frozen, like parsnips and salsify, but most need dug up and kept in a cellar that stays above 32 degrees F (0 degrees C), or at least heaped high with straw if kept outside, to keep the earth around them from freezing.

They also can't dry out. A box of damp sand in the cellar will do, or even just a moist cellar.

They also need protected from bugs, which aren't as much of a problem in winter, but sand burial can help. Some things, like onions, want to be kept dry, so can be hung in the house where the fire dries things out. Even cabbage heads can be kept fresh in the cellar, with just the few outer leaves looking yellow and tired, but they can be pulled off to reveal a crisp head beneath.
6. Corned beef? What's that all about? Beef flavored with corn? What kept it fresh in the days before refrigeration?

Answer: Salt

When I was little, I tried to find the corn. But corn also meant grain in the 19th century, and coarse grains of salt rubbed over the beef kept it from going bad. A brine with molasses and other spices added made it taste especially good, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate) kept it looking an appetizing red and preserved it even more.

The only problem was how tough salt beef got, compared to salt pork which stayed tender. Pressing salt beef and slicing it very thin solved some of the problem, so corned beef works better sliced thin on a sandwich than stewed as a roast.
7. Sauerkraut needs canning, right? True or false?

Answer: False

Sauerkraut is really just pickled shredded cabbage. Made with a strong enough acidity, it can be kept in a barrel. But it's such a good food in its own right, that companies still make it and sell it today, canning it for convenience and so they can use a less strong flavor, even though we can buy fresh cabbage year round.
8. Candied orange peel, candied ginger and other such goodies are preserved by "candying." What's that?

Answer: Soaking in a sugar solution, then drying

All those answers would keep food from spoiling, but none would give the sweet result of candying. A warm sugar solution penetrates the food, then drying means it can be stored in a jar and nibbled on for a treat, or used as cake decorations or goodies baked in cakes.
9. Bread without preservatives went stale quickly. A breadbox and some tricks helped, but once bread was hard as a rock, was it good for anything involving human food? Yes or no?

Answer: Yes

Stale bread was so common, there were dozens of uses: grate into breadcrumbs for thickenings or toppings; break or slice into croutons for soup; soften by soaking in warm milk or boiling water and serve to invalids, maybe flavored with lemon or nutmeg; make bread pudding, with many variations of sauces. Stale bread did more than feed ducks.
10. Bacon. Yum! What kept 19th century bacon from spoiling?

Answer: salting and drying

Bacon and ham went through similar processes. First, the meat was soaked in brine, so the salt could act as a preservative. Other herbs, chemicals and flavorings might be added too. Next, it was taken out and dried over a low smokey fire, to keep away bugs and prevent spoilage.

At last, it was hung up wrapped in cloth, or packed in ashes, or stored some way to keep the bugs off while it finished drying and waited to be eaten. Hams were kept in the shape they were cut from the hog, and bacon too, so a side of bacon was rectangular, a few inches thick, and was sliced thin just before use.
Source: Author littlepup

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor WesleyCrusher before going online.
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