Canning (Appert method and tin can)
Conservación de alimentos en recipientes herméticos y lata
- Date
- 1804-1810 · confidence high
- Place
- Massy, near Paris, France; London (Durand and Donkin)
- Credited to
- Nicolas Appert (method, 1804-1810); Peter Durand (tin can, 1810); Bryan Donkin and John Hall (canning factory, Bermondsey, 1813)
- People
- 👤 Bryan Donkin1768–1855👤 Nicolás Appert1749–1841👤 Peter Durand1766–1822
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Appert discovered that food heated in sealed jars would keep for months, winning Napoleon's prize; Durand patented the tin can, and Donkin mass-produced it for the Royal Navy. It freed food supply from the constraints of season and place.
Appert experimented at Massy and published 'L'art de conserver' in 1810; Durand patented the tin can in London the same year, possibly on behalf of Philippe de Girard.
What it led to
- Provisioning armies, navies and polar expeditions
- The canning industry (Nantes, Chicago, California) and industrial fishing
- The tin opener (1855-1858) and branded foods
- Lead poisoning from solder (the Franklin expedition)
Built on
- Tinc. 3000 BCE
- Salting, smoking and confit
- Tinplate (Bohemia, Wales)
- Papin's digester
Made possible
- Sweetened condensed milk1853-1856
- Screw-top glass jar (Mason jar)1858
- Heat sterilization (swan-neck flask and autoclave)1861-1879
- Liebig's extract of meat1865
- Margarine1869
- Ginaca machine for peeling and coring pineapples1913
- Easy-open pull-tab can1962
- Triple-bag hermetic cowpea storage (PICS)1987-2007
- Can opener
- Pasteurisation (scientific explanation)
- Chicago canned corned beef