In: Anatomy and Physiology
discuss how people used high sugar or high salt to preserve food?
Answer-
Long before the invention of refrigerator, foods where cured using a mixture of sugar and salt in combination with smoking. This combination of sugar and salt as food preservative helps to increase osmotic pressure thus destroying the harmful bacteria and slowing decay alongwith promoting the build up of beneficial bacteria and rich taste.
Curing foods by salt or sugar draws water out and ties up the water within thus preventing the food from any kind of reactions that leads to decay.
It is recomended to use salts containing nitrates as they act as antioxidants in food preservatives. They undergo free radical and oxidation mechanisms thus prevent food spoilage.
Similarly, Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO) recommends the use of sucrose and fructose instead glucose as a food preservative. They also promote the growth of healthy bacteria that will prevent any sickness post consumption of the food.