14 January 1890: Preserve Your Meat in Charcoal During an Unseasonably Warm Winter

On this day in 1890, the following advice was republished from an earlier edition of the Athens Banner in the Weekly Banner: 

The charcoal here would be fresh, cool wood charcoal dust, and was intended, according to A. Hausner's  1902 book, The Manufacture of Preserved Foods and Sweetmeats, to keep meat "in a completely unchanged state, so that it can be cooked without further trouble." 


The problem with preservation methods with this goal was that "they demanded ... a certain amount of skill in the preserver." Results of preserving in charcoal, Hausner said, "vary much," and it was therefore recommended that that form of preservation be reserved "for short periods, e.g. when it is necessary to send meat on an ordinary journey by rail."


Today, most modern food preservation guides do not include charcoal as a method of safe meat preservation. 


Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Jan. 1890 - Dec. 1890 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning by the Gardeners & Farmers of Terre Vivante in the general collection.
• A Guide to Canning, Freezing, Curing and Smoking Meat, Game and Fish by Wilbur F. Eastman, Jr. via PINES.
• Well-Preserved by Eugenia Bone in the general collection.
• Everywoman's Canning Book by Mary Catherine Hughes via PINES.
• Pickled, Potted, and Canned: How the Art of Food Preservation Changed the World by Sue Shephard in the general collection.
• The Complete Guide to Preserving Meat, Fish, and Game by Kenneth V. Oster via PINES.
• Stocking Up III by Carol Hupping in the general collection.
• The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol W. Costenbader via PINES.
• A History of Food by Magnelonne Toussaint-Samat in the general collection.