Canned vegetables: main types and methods of their preparation

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

People tend to stock up. This desire is inherent in them by nature itself. To preserve vegetables for a long time, different methods are used. One of the most popular options is canning. It is a variety of methods of processing products, aimed at the destruction of microorganisms that cause spoilage, or the creation of unfavorable conditions for their activity. Canned vegetables can be prepared both at home and in industrial conditions. Moreover, in both cases, as a rule, the same methods and techniques are used.

Product classification

Depending on the amount of main ingredients used in the production process, canned vegetables are divided into two groups:

1. Single component. They process only one type of vegetable.
2. Multicomponent. Various vegetables are used for their preparation. The finished product is a kind of assortment.

Today, such products are well known to the mass consumer. People have long been accustomed to including it in their daily diet. Canned vegetables according to the method of preparationare divided into several types:

1. Natural, sterilized fresh food with added sugar or s alt.
2. Snack bars. For them, vegetables are previously subjected to special processing. At the final stage, various spices, seasonings and fats are added to the main composition.
3. Products intended for baby and diet food. For their manufacture, fresh or frozen products are used, which, as a result of complex processing, turn into highly nutritious fortified mixtures that are easily absorbed by the body.

Canned vegetables allow all year round to have on the table products that ripen only in summer or autumn. True, these days this problem is often solved differently. Vegetables brought from other regions and climatic zones just appear on store shelves.

Natural canned food

Many people prefer to eat canned vegetables, prepared in a natural way. There is an explanation for this, because, according to experts, they retain the main advantages of the original products as much as possible: color, taste, aroma and nutritional value. According to the production technology, such canned food is produced by the method:

1. Sauerkraut, that is, sterilization or pasteurization of s alted vegetables to increase their shelf life.
2. Marinating. In this case, the safety of products is achieved by filling them with a special compound with the addition of acetic acid.
3. Canning, when boiled vegetables are placed in a saline solution.

Such products can be eaten as an independent dish or side dish. For example, corn or green peas will be a good addition to meat. In addition, canned vegetables are widely used as semi-finished products for salads, soups and other complex dishes.

Technology Secrets

Production of canned vegetables is a complex process that takes place in several stages:

1. Preparation of raw materials. First, the vegetables go to sorting, where quality fruits are separated from those that are unsuitable for use (immature, affected by pests or agricultural chemicals). The products are then sent for cleaning. There, the coarse inedible parts are removed from them. For such an operation, as a rule, special mechanisms are used. After that, the raw material is sent for grinding and calibration.
2. Food processing. Most often, blanching of vegetables is performed at this stage. To do this, they are treated with steam or hot water for a certain period of time. Food is then refrigerated to prevent tissue softening and loss of nutritional value.
3. Packaging. Prepared vegetables are placed in a sterile container and poured with special solutions using various dispensers.
4. Capping. Containers with products are closed with metal lids using seaming machines. This is done to prevent air from entering the container, which contains dangerous microflora.
5. Sterilization is prolonged heatprocessing at high temperature to kill microorganisms that may interfere with the long-term storage of cooked canned food.

After that, the products are stored and can be used at any time if necessary.

Ready snacks

No less popular among the people are canned vegetable snacks. They are multi-component products that do not require additional processing and are completely ready for use. Just open the jar and put the mixture on a plate. Such vegetables, as a rule, play the role of an appetizer or side dish. It could be:

• caviar (zucchini, onion or eggplant);
• salad ("Winter", "Nezhinsky" or "Amateur");
• vegetable stew;
• appetizer ("Minskaya", "Belarusian with mushrooms" and others);
• stuffed foods (peppers with vegetable or meat fillers).

Pate can also be used as a canned snack. In this case, the basis is vegetables fried in vegetable oil with various spices and s alt. And as a supplement, mushrooms are most often used. It turns out a very good combination. Such a fragrant mixture, decorated with herbs, will be a good side dish, for example, for ordinary boiled potatoes.