History of Dehydrated Foods
warm : You ’ve got a doggie bag of leftover pizza and you do n’t want it to spoil . What do you do with it ? The first thought in your head was probably " icebox . " Certainly , that has been the go - to method of food preservation for most of the past 100 long time . But before that , masses had to do a niggling more than opened and shut a door to make their food last longer . The technique they relied on — fermenting , pickling , bring around and canning — are still around today , though their uses have evolved . The same can be said about dehydration , one of the oldest method acting of solid food preservation .
Food dehydration was probably more of a discovery than an conception . Some unnamed food pioneer likely noticed fallen fruit dehydrate by the red-hot sun and realized it was still comestible long after it dropped from the tree . The proficiency had caught on by 12,000 B.C.E. , when grounds suggests that Egyptians were using the desert heat to dry out Pisces and poultry [ source : Shephard ] . The sun continued to be the main dryer until the Middle Ages , when house physician of cooler , wetting agent Europe began constructing construction specifically designed to desiccate food , which amount to be known as stillhouses . Here , fruit , vegetables , herbs , and other nutrient were strung across a way and dried by the heat of a fire .
The next crowing development was motorized dehydration , and for that we have French inventors Masson and Chollet to give thanks . In the mid-1800s , these old - shoal foodies developed a summons by which vegetables were dry out with air hot up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit ( 40.5 degrees Celsius ) , then compressed into vegetable cakes [ author : Prescott and Proctor ] . That might not sound majuscule to us , but to sailors of the time , the dried veggies were a welcome root of nutrition .
Since then , exsiccate intellectual nourishment has fallen in and out of party favour with the American palate . It got a encouragement in World War II , when the demand for minor and lightweight ration lead to widespread use of goods and services among combat troop . Back home , however , American housewives would have none of it . Aside from dry out soups , potatoes and pud , small of what was served on the front argument made it back home . Dehydrated food did n’t make a return until the 1960s , when back - to - the - landcampersand tramper once again discovered its excellent transportability [ source : Lovegren ] .
