Earlier Canning

Could the earlier use of cans improve nutririon among civilians by enabling them to conserve foodstuffs to consume them between harvests.

I'd say yescommabut. Cans are expensive, so is the canning process. Preindustrial production levels will increase that cost. Producing a significant quantity of canned goods is very labour-intensive and requires lots of prior outlay (I've spent years buying jars and gear, mostly second-hand and cheaply, but I'm very far from being able to preserve even a significant part of our family's fruit or meat needs that way). The labour would go on top of the processing going on on a farm regularly. That suggests it would most likely be used mainly to preserve high-status, high-margin foods either for sale or for special occasions/people. Think meat, fruit, fresh seasonal garden produce, not cabbage, beets and beans.

Building up a stock of knowledge, practical experience, equipment and routines will take long. I would suggest looking at distilling as a broad parallel. It's a similarly complex process with a similarly desirable product. Distillation per vesicam (the type that makes modern high-proof booze) has been around since at least about 1200. It became commonplace throughout Europe in the 1500s, but booze didn't become genuinely cheap until around 1700. I think that would be the timeframe you're looking at for preindustrial canning processes to spread.


It looks like a good source.

Sauerkraut is a great source of vitamin C until you cook it. Which you do, unless told not to. But it is one option for scurvy prevention. Another is bean sprouts. The problem isn't technology, it's knowing what you're doing.

Weren't dried foodstufs and biscuits less comberstone than cans?

Depends on the context. If you're loading a ship or provisioning a fortress, casks of wet-salted meat and sacks of biscuit are your preferred option, but if you're setting out on a ten-day patrol or an extended boat cruise, ten cans per man is far easier to manage and distribute. Imagine the logistical nightmare of meat casks in all required sizes (five days for a twelve-man gig, ten days for a tenty-four man cutter crew, twelve for five in a sailing pinnace...)
 
Makes sense, since ISTR hearing that Appert's initial proof of concept used champagne bottles as the containers before switching to wide-mouthed glass containers similar to modern mason jars.

While googling to confirm, I came across this:


He believes that Appert wasn’t working totally from scratch. The idea of preservation by heat was known. There are also historical references to preservation of juice by mild heat treatments, a process now known as “hot filling.” This method was known in Roman times, although the Romans did not have hermetically sealed containers. But Appert could have known of hermetic sealing using water to tighten the lid to the jar for preserving kimchee and sauerkraut in crockery.

And I found this contradicting the claim that Romans didn't have hermetically sealed containers.


A team of chemists from the University of Valencia (UV) has confirmed that the substance used to hermetically seal an amphora found among remains at Lixus, in Morocco, was pine resin. The scientists also studied the metallic fragments inside the 2,000-year-old vessel, which could be fragments of material used for iron-working.

If accurate, the Romans had all the pieces but just didn't happen to have anyone put them together, probably because the hermetic sealing technique wasn't in widespread use, combined with a lack of theoretical groundwork (such as Spallanzani's work IOTL) that would lead someone to think to try combining heat treatments with hermetic seals.


Some General Additions

„In order to make their containers air and watertight, the Romans used heated resin known as pitch to line the dolia and plaster to patch them where needed. The advantage of airtight containers was acknowledged by first century AD Roman agronomist Columella who warned his readers against buying ollas bibulas aut male coctas, or jars which are porous or badly baked, and advised them to apply an inner lining and outer coating to the jars to create a tighter seal for the wine.“
http://www.academicwino.com/2014/07/history-of-wine-containers.html/

„Canning was a slow process in Appert's time. The cans of food had to be boiled in water for about five hours to make them completely sterile. But in 1860 it was found that adding calcium chloride to the boiling water made it possible to raise the temperature of that water more than 28 degrees Fahrenheit. This higher temperature worked better and faster. Canning became healthier and safer.“
http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/ahp/MBG/MBG4/Appert.html


Spontaneous Generation and Pasteur's Experiment


There were several different ideas about spontaneous generation in antiquity. One would be very interesting, the Wind theory:

“The wind, too, plays a prominent part in popular beliefs. Pliny, XVI.93, tells us that animals mate and begin to conceive when Favonius starts to blow. This wind he calls genitalis spiritus mundi, 'the fecundating spirit of the world.' In view of such a statement, we are not greatly surprised to find the notion that mares conceived merely by allowing the wind to blow upon them. This belief was given a rationalistic interpretation by Justin,44.3, to explain the extraordinary swiftness of the horses of Lusitania. The wind might also impregnate sheep, tigers, vultures, and partridges. Partridges had as a rule to be on the leeward side of the male. At times it was sufficient merely for the hen to smell the male or to hear his voice.

The belief in the generative powers of wind had its effect even on house-planning. One of the reasons why Vitruvius, VI.4.1, advises not to let the library face the south or west is because the winds from these directions give birth to bookworms (Tineae) and nourish them. It was said that a heavy atmosphere begot τετράγναθα (Ael. XVII.40).
Wind eggs (hypenemia or zephyria) are formed spontaneously in birds and fowls, such as doves, hens, partridges, peacocks, geese, and χηναλώπηκες.Pliny (X.166) attributes such eggs to the lustful thoughts of the females or to dust.”

Lets say one of the more hands on philosopher really wants to figure out/ prove the theory above. Moving air [1] is the most important factor in spontaneous generation. Stale air itself does nothing. He designs a bottle that lets air in but not “winds”. Then have him cook the jars just be be extra safe. After all he doesn’t want the culture medium to spoil before the wind touches it interfering with his experiment.

Hey rigorous separation of different variables isn’t a thing yet and “spoiling” is from an outside look a totally unrelated decaying process anyway. And luckily it can be delayed by heat ;-). To his surprise the bottle keeps unspoiled and insect free for a year. But once “wind” comes in contact it immediately goes bad. A stretch sure, but very much in the theoretical framework of its time.

pasteurs-experiment.jpg


Now if this discovery and the development of canning in general are actually useful for the classic world for more than novelty value is a whole other thing.

[1] If anybody is wondering about this part, Greek philosopher did in OTL have some "interesting" ideas on breath/pneuma/air motion and wind/weather phenomena. Our hypothetical philosopher would feel right at home.
 
Last edited:
I think Sweden-Finland may be a good place for canning to be developed earlier. Scurvy was often a seasonal threat. Swedish agriculture lend itself to meat and dairy production. It also have large sources of fuel (wood), which could be used to glass production. So we could see the Swedes experiment with glass canning earlier. This could serve to increase their food export, but also create a earlier Swedish glass industry, which only really became a major deal in OTL 19th century.

Of course it would likely spread fast to Denmark-Norway, the Baltics and Russia. Where it would be pretty revolutionary as it would move food export away from complete focus on grain and over to other food sources. If its developed in the 16-17th century, it could pretty much change the world map, I could see the Dutch being able to increase their population, as food export become cheaper, but we could also see Europe being able to export more of it population to the rest of the world.
 
I'd say yescommabut. Cans are expensive, so is the canning process. Preindustrial production levels will increase that cost. Producing a significant quantity of canned goods is very labour-intensive and requires lots of prior outlay (I've spent years buying jars and gear, mostly second-hand and cheaply, but I'm very far from being able to preserve even a significant part of our family's fruit or meat needs that way). The labour would go on top of the processing going on on a farm regularly. That suggests it would most likely be used mainly to preserve high-status, high-margin foods either for sale or for special occasions/people. Think meat, fruit, fresh seasonal garden produce, not cabbage, beets and beans.

Honestly, if you're going to go through the trouble, and you're catering to the rich, aren't greenhouses the way to go?
 
Honestly, if your'e going to go through the trouble, and you're catering to the rich, aren't greenhouses the way to go?

Pre-industrial greenhouses pretty much only extend the growing season length and geographic range of crops, it doesn't allow crop to be harvest the entire year.
 
Would the world be effected by lead poisoning though? Wasn't the Franklin Expedition effected by lead containment?
 
Canning in glass does not have an issue with lead. Early metallic cans used lead based solders for sealing, and with acidic contents this allowed lead to leach in to the food. Acidity and lead don't mix - ask the folks in Flint, Michigan (the change in water source was more acidic and when this flowed through older lead pipes...).
 
Honestly, if you're going to go through the trouble, and you're catering to the rich, aren't greenhouses the way to go?

Given the amount of clear plate glass (as opposed to salt-glazed stoneware) and fuel you'd need for THAT, I think we are talking about different definitions of 'rich', but yes. Greenhouses are definitely on as soon as they are developed.
 
I wonder what that value would be, though. What does the army of Caesar, of Richard I or of Gustavus Adolphus get from canned rations that justifies their cost?

extension of the campaign season, scorched earth will be a far less effective tactic.

also in the past the troops had to forage part of their food, something they will have to spend less time on now
 
Last edited:
extension of the campaign season, scorched earth will be a far less effective tactic.

also in the past the troops had to forage part of their food, something they will have to spend less time on now

Not having to forage as much means the armies can move faster, this is a huge plus.

Foraging was mainly necessary because the transport infrastructure was inadequate, not because they couldn't provide portable foods. Most of what an army consumed was bread grain, fodder, and meat. All three are eminently portable and easily preserved, but bulky and hard to move without access to water transport. I can't see how canned food improves on this problem. I don't know the exact calculations for later medieval and early modern transport (I guess they are better), but medieval horse-drawn carts are generally assumed to have a range of about 300 kilometres before the draft animals require the entire cargo capacity in fodder. That does not change.
 
Top