Early in history, humans discovered that food would remain edible longer if it were dried and stored in a cool, dry place until it was time to be consumed. Early food dehydration was achieved by cutting meat, fish, and certain fruits into thin strips and drying them in sunlight.
Rubbing food with salt or soaking it in salt water, an early form of curing food, also helped preserve it. Later techniques were developed for cooking, processing, preserving, and storing food in sealed containers. With the developments of pasteurization and canning, a much larger variety of foods could be stored and carried on long journeys. More recently, the addition of preservatives to food, along with refrigeration and quick-freezing, have been used to help better preserve food flavor and still prevent spoilage.
-Excerpted from "NASA's Space, Food, and Nutrition" at nasa.gov
Which of the following ideas can you infer about food preservation?
Salt curing used to help preserve food, but we no longer use it.
Early humans used ice to refrigerate and preserve foods.
Vegetables cannot be preserved.
The flavor of food is affected by soaking it in salt water or canning it.