Image Courtesy of Andres Rodriguez under Creative Commons 2.0 License

In the early 19th century, a significant breakthrough in food preservation revolutionised the way people stored and consumed food. This innovation, known as canning, was the brainchild of several inventors, most notably British merchant Peter Durand and French confectioner Nicolas Appert.

Durand, in 1811, patented the idea of using a can made of steel or iron and plated with non-corrosive tin. However, it was Appert who, in 1810, won a prize for his heat-based food preservation process. Appert's method involved packing partially cooked foods into glass bottles, boiling them for 12 hours or more, and sealing them with corks, wire, and sealing wax.

The first commercial canning factory, known as the "Preservatory," was built on the Thames, outside of London, in 1813 by engineer Bryan Donkin. The factory produced cans of beef, mutton, carrots, and parsnips, primarily for the Royal Navy.

Despite these advancements, the understanding of how and why the canning process worked was still elusive. It wasn't until Louis Pasteur's studies in the 1860s that it became clear that the heat treatment was necessary to destroy bacteria that caused food to spoil.

The first actual can opener came on the market in 1855, a claw-like device on a wooden handle with which users laboriously hacked their way around the top of the can, leaving a dangerous jagged edge. It wasn't until 1882 that Henry Putnam introduced the Lightning jar, which had a glass lid held in place with a wire clamp.

John Landis Mason patented a wide-mouthed jar with a zinc screw cap in 1858, making heat-based food preservation easier for home kitchens. The most common household can opener today, with paired cutting and serrated wheels, only came along in 1925, over a century after the can.

Prior to 1800, American colonists dried, smoked, salted, or pickled their produce. Pickling wasn't always reliable, depending on what was pickled. Colonial pickled oysters barely lasted a week, and dried food had a tendency to taste like cardboard.

Interestingly, some of the earliest adopters of canned food were high-profile figures such as Queen Charlotte, the Duke of Wellington, and Sir Joseph Banks, who all tasted the canned food and pronounced the contents delicious.

In the United States, one out of every five families still preserves their harvest in Mason jars. Over 200 billion cans of food are produced worldwide every year, making canning a crucial part of modern food production and preservation.

The world's oldest surviving tin can, once filled with veal, accompanied Sir William Parry on his 1819 voyage in search of the Northwest Passage, demonstrating the resilience and longevity of this remarkable invention. Despite its long history, canning continues to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of a changing world.