The Invention of Canned Food
Thousands of years ago, people developed methods of preserving food to prevent it from spoiling. For example, Native Americans dried thin slices of meat over an open fire or in the sun. The ancient Romans and Greeks knew and appreciated dried fruit. In Japan, it has long been customary to pickle fish in salt brine. The development of canned food is thanks to the Frenchman Nicolas Appert. In 1804, he made the discovery that heating food sterilizes it and that sealing it off from air preserves it. Appert used glass bottles as containers for the preserved food, which were closed with a cork. However, since the glass bottles frequently broke during transportation, the Briton Peter Durand developed the first metal can in 1810. However, the lids of the cans were initially soldered with lead, so many people fell victim to slow lead poisoning at that time. For a long time, canned fruit, vegetables, and meat were very expensive because of the required manual labor, and opening the cans was also complicated. Finally, the flanging of the can cylinders made soldering unnecessary, and the can opener was invented in 1858.
In Germany, canned food has been a mass-produced product since World War I: About eight million cans of meat were produced monthly. After World War II, fruits or fruit salads in cans became increasingly popular. Today, cans are produced from tinplate and aluminum. Thanks to appropriate machines, punching, deep drawing and cutting no longer require manual labor, and cans can be evenly filled in large quantities. What has long been common with beverage cans is now also being offered by increasingly more cans with meals as contents: an integrated can opener. This consists of an aluminum lid with an attached metal tab.
The Quality of Canned Foods
How do finished products from cans differ from freshly prepared dishes of the same type? Freshly harvested foods undoubtedly contain the highest amount of vitamins and minerals compared to frozen foods and canned foods. However, fresh foods can lose nutrients relatively quickly. Heat, light and oxygen are responsible for this. So if you like to enjoy fresh food, you should process or consume the purchased products as quickly as possible. For storage, products that have been either frozen or preserved come into question. If you don't have a freezer, but have a pantry or storage room, we offer the appropriate type of storage with our canned food subcategory. The preservation of a food involves brief heating. Depending on the can's content, sterilization at around 100 degrees Celsius or pasteurization at 70-85 degrees Celsius is chosen.
The dishes in canned food still contain about half of the original vitamins immediately after production. Although there are certainly canned foods that are durable for up to five years, the vitamin content decreases steadily. Sterilization or pasteurization ensures that harmful microorganisms are killed and contained enzymes are inactivated. Liquids or sauces tailored to the respective dish preserve the consistency of the individual ingredients. A good product example is ravioli from a can: ravioli made from durum wheat semolina, water, meat, breadcrumbs, and spices "swim" in a tomato sauce. After opening the can, you can heat the contents over low heat for four to five minutes or fill it into a microwave-safe container to heat the dish within five minutes at 750-850 watts.
Canned Stews
If you have ever prepared a stew yourself, you know how much work and time just washing and cutting the ingredients can take. As a friend of stews, you should stock up on some canned stews that suit your taste - and then you can quickly treat yourself to a stew at any time. How about some products from the EDEKA brand Gut & Günstig, for example? In our range, you will find, among other things, Gut & Günstig pea stew with salted pork & smoked bacon, Gut & Günstig green bean stew with bacon and beef, as well as Sun Bassermann's My Lentil Stew. Most cans with ready meals usually have 800 grams of content. If you only want to heat up a portion of stew, we offer you several products from the Sun Bassermann brand that have 400 grams of content. Examples are Sun Bassermann My Potato Stew and Sun Bassermann My Pea Stew.
Meat Dishes - Quick and Ready to Serve
Almost the most important thing when preparing goulash or goulash soup is a sufficiently long braising or cooking time. Goulash was probably already prepared in the Middle Ages - over an open fire. The main ingredients were roasted meat and onions. Gulyas-hus has been the Hungarian national dish since the late 18th century. The first recipe for goulash was published in a cookbook in 1819. From this point on, goulash was increasingly prepared in other European countries. Various types of meat came into consideration as meat: Apart from beef and veal, pork, horse and mutton were also used. Goulash recipes were described in German cookbooks from the mid-19th century. Goulash soup spread from the end of the 19th century. The term goulash cannon has been common for this meaty soup since World War I. In our shop, you can choose from various goulash products. For example, we offer you Keunecke pork goulash in hearty roast sauce and Keunecke exquisite Szegediner goulash with potatoes.
Labskaus and Other Specialties
If you come from northern Germany, you probably know Labskaus. The English author Ned Ward first reported on a dish that sailors preferred to eat in 1706. At that time, pickled meat was the main ingredient of the dish because it could be eaten by everyone with sore teeth even when chopped into small pieces. In 1878, a nautical dictionary described Labskaus as a mixture of salted meat and potatoes. Labskaus gradually became more popular on the mainland as well. There is no one "right" recipe for Labskaus, but important ingredients are corned beef, potatoes, and onions. Choose, for example, Buss Hanseaten-Labskaus and Old Commercial Room Original Hamburger Labskaus here.
Chili con carne is actually a dish that is usually cooked in larger quantities and, for example, is often offered at parties. We offer you Erasco Chili con Carne (400 grams) and Erasco Strong Portion Chili con Carne Diabolo (800 grams) so that you can enjoy this popular dish alone.