French confectioner and chef who developed heat preservation in sealed jars
Peter Durand
English merchant who patented the tin can in 1810
Plate 058
c. 1809–1810
France and England
No photograph is shown for this exhibition. The museum displays an image only where it can show the object honestly.
About this date
Nicolas Appert described preserving food in sealed glass jars in 1810 after developing it around 1809. Peter Durand patented tin cans in England in 1810.
About credit
Appert won a prize offered by the French government. The cause of spoilage, microbes, was not understood until Pasteur’s work decades later.
Chapter II
The world before
Life before Canning
Food was preserved by drying, salting, smoking or pickling, which changed its taste and texture.
II
The human achievement
How it came about
Appert filled glass jars with food, corked and sealed them, then boiled them for hours. Durand patented a tin container, and the first English cannery opened in 1813. Early cans were heavy and opened with hammer and chisel; the can opener appeared decades later.
III
Understanding the invention
How it works
Canning, explained in two steps.
01
Step 01 of 02
Heat kills microbes
Heating destroys most organisms that cause spoilage.
Heat kills microbes
Seal out the air
IV
The transformation
What changed for humanity
Armies and navies
Soldiers and sailors could be supplied with safe food on campaigns.
Households
Fruit and vegetables could be eaten out of season.
It allowed armies, ships and cities to be fed from stocks, and later let households keep food through the winter.
V
Before and after
Life before and after Canning
Before
Salted meat and root crops.
After
Preserved peas and fruit from a tin.
On larger screens, drag the divider (or use the arrow keys) to give more room to the world before or after.
VI
Its legacy
What came after
MHI 058
Canning
Beyond the collection
Pasteurisation
Pasteur explained why heating prevents spoilage.
Beyond the collection
Refrigeration
Freezing and chilling gave another route.
VII
Human stories
The people and the moments
Cans that needed a chisel
The earliest tins were so thick that instructions said to open them with a hammer and chisel. Ezra Warner patented a can opener in 1858.
Where accounts differ, this museum follows the documented record and says so.