Napoleon Bonaparte and the Beginnings of Home Canning
Conqueror Spurs Nicholas Appert to Develop Canning Process.
During my research for an article on home canning, I came across a surprising fact. Napoleon Bonaparte, the famed French general and conqueror, had a role in the development of the canning process that we use for long term food storage today.
You might ask, “What role could the rising conqueror of Europe have in the canning process?”
Well, sit back, hold on to that coffee cup and, like me, you will soon be enlightened.
By 1795 Napoleon Bonaparte began his rise to power. His forces had taken control of France and he cast his covetous eyes at the rest of Europe.
The problem was food.
During this time the main methods of preserving food were pickling, smoking, dehydrating and fermenting. None of these methods was entirely satisfactory for feeding an army on the move. Fresh foods gathered from farms frequently spoiled before his soldiers could eat it. And as Napoleon’s army ranged further from friendly France and began encountering a hostile countryside, the willingness of local farmers to sell food fell precipitously.
Napoleon knew that an army moved on food.
His army struggled with constant hunger.
Hungry men make poor soldiers.
So, Napoleon needed a reliable food source to feed his men.
That meant a reliable way to process and store food. Large quantities of food.
Prize Money
In 1795 Napoleon gave orders to the Directory to offer a $12,000 prize to anyone that could develop a reliable way of preserving large amounts of food. This would be approximately $289,000.00 in 2023 dollars. It would take fifteen years before a man named Nicholas Appert would collect the prize.
Experimentation First
Apert began working with soups, vegetables, juices, dairy products, jellies, jams, and syrups. Over time, he learned that food placed in champaign bottles, corked and sealed with wax would keep quite well. He left an air space at the top, and wrapped the bottles in canvas, after which he boiled the bottles. He boiled the bottles only as long at it took for the food to be cooked. He built on the work of many others as he evolved the process. Lazzaro Spallanzani, a Catholic priest and scientist, had observed in 1805 that cooked food, sealed in airtight containers, kept for longer periods of time. In this process, called Appertization, sealed food was cooked to about 104 degrees F for a length of time. This differs from pasteurization, in which foods are heated to 212 degrees F. Foods preserved with this method must be stored under refrigeration.
Beginning to Produce Canned Foods
At the beginning, this was all guess work, of course. By 1803 he had advanced enough in the process for him to construct a factory, produce some canned product and submit samples to the French navy and army. The next year he began experiments with metal cans. He used tin plated steel and cast iron in his experiments. The lids were thick and heavy. He placed the product in the can and sealed the lids with solder, after which he heated the cans. He left the cans in storage for varying periods of time. Any that swelled up he deemed spoiled. The rest he regarded as safe for sale and shipped them out. Since the no one would invent the can opener for three decades, soldiers had to open the cans with bayonets or swords. His equipment was expensive, and his income did not match it. By 1806 he declared bankruptcy, but his creditors allowed him to continue his work. He did not win the award until 1810, however the French government stipulated that he publish his work. He agreed and published the first book on food canning and preservation, The Art of Preserving, for Several Years, all Animal and Vegetable Substances, the same year.
Unprofitable
He continued production, but his factory was unprofitable. The French government did build him a factory, which he occupied rent free. It was still unprofitable, and the government evicted him in 1827. He opened another one and applied for selection into the Legion of Honour; but denied him membership for political reasons. Insulted, he retired and received a pension of 1200 francs a year. He died in poverty and was interred in a pauper’s grave. Appert’s lack of formal education led him to never understand how his process worked. The science of bacteriology had not yet become established. Louis Pasteur would not begin his work on microbes until 1845. It was he that studied Appert’s work and explained why the process worked. Since the process was simple, it led to others continuing to evolve the process.
New Series
This article will be part of a new vegetable growing series on which I am working. The preservation section will be quite large and include sections on canning, dehydration, pickling, and other forms of food preservation.
Meanwhile, here is the history of a small town in Indiana called Napoleon for you to purchase and enjoy.
Mossy Feet Books 