It's In the Can!

With the introduction of refrigeration, fresh meat was popular, but so was preserved meat.  The most popular method was salting, spicing or smoking - all ancient methods for preserving meat.  Canning, however, is the modern answer, but it took a bit of skill to perfect it.

Originally all canned meat came out like stew.  The question was how to get canned meat to act like real meat rather than a soup or stew.  A new process where meat was cooked before it was canned eliminated the shrinkage and made the process of canning meat work.  J.A. Wilson from Chicago came up with a can that opened from a larger end so that meat could slide out in one piece.  By 1878 his Chicago factory was turning out 1000s of cans which housewives loved for slicing.  (Spam's grandfather!)

"Corned Beef" was described as a slightly salted canned meat" and the stuff that soldiers and civilians worldwide loved.  Canned meat was free of bones and much cheaper than fresh meat.  From emergency rations to the dinner table, canned meat was a household staple by 1900.

Canned meat did more than provide easy, ready meat.  It changed diets.  With no refrigeration needed, people relied less and less on the fresh meat carried by rail.  Chicago packers needed to find other products for their refrigerated rail cars.  Armour went south to encourage shipping fruits and vegetables to northern cities.  He even began growing peaches in Georgia so he could use his rail cars to ship the fruit north.

The canning industry moved into other products, like fruits, vegetables, and soups.  There didn't seem to be a food that couldn't be canned.  What our ancestors had to grow in the garden could now be put in a 10 cent can.  All from one little can of "corned beef!"  America was hooked!

Next time...The changing menu
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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 17, 1835, the Texas Rangers are created.  The Rangers were a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to "range and guard the frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers."