You’ve bought all the gear – the Mason jars, the lids, even the jar lifter. You’re decked out with your oven mitts and your apron, and you’ve got your dish towels ready to go – just waiting for steaming hot jars of vegetables, pickles, fruits, and meats to be placed on them. You’re ready to start canning.
But you may have wondered how exactly – or when, exactly – we first got started with canning.
Believe it or not, this is a practice that goes back centuries. In this post, we’ll take a look at this time-honored tradition so you can better understand how it’s evolved over time.

The First Origins of Canning Abroad
As you likely know by now, canning is a form of food preservation that involves processing and sealing food up in airtight containers. This can be done at home, with glass jars like Mason jars, or in factories, with steel and tin cans.
The beauty of canning is that it allows food to be stored for several years at a time without requiring refrigeration or freezing, locking in its nutrients and keeping it fresh. In 1974, samples of canned food were found from the wreck of a steamboat called the Bertrand, which sank in 1865 in the MIssouri River. These canned foods looked a little rough, but were tested and found to be safe to eat – more than 100 years later.
This anecdote bears witness to the fact that canning is a fantastic way to preserve the bounty of summer’s harvest so you can enjoy it all year long. But where did this tradition start?
It’s not an American tradition. In fact, it first started in France. Before the Napoleonic Wars, in the early 19th century, the French government offered a cash award to any inventor who could figure out a reliable method for preserving food – it was necessary to support military rations.
Nicolas Appert, a brewer and confectioner, happened to observe that food cooked inside a jar only spoiled when the seals leaked. In 1809, he developed a method of sealing food in glass jars that later won him the prize from the French government.
Appert’s original technique involved heat-processing food in glass jars that were reinforced with wire, then sealing them with wax (not dissimilar to the technique we use for jelly jars and paraffin wax).
At this time, his discovery was mostly luck and not actual science – Appert knew he had stumbled upon something with fantastic potential, but didn’t know why or how it worked. It was Louis Pasteur who, more than 50 years later, discovered the role of microbes in food spoilage.
Nevertheless, Appert’s discovery fueled the initial fire. The French army began experimenting with issuing canned foods, and other countries, including Britain and the United States, quickly followed suit. In the early days, canned food was considered a luxury item of the European elite, in fact. Many countries began to adopt canning to help feed their military populations.
Canning in the United States
It didn’t take long for the canning revolution to spread across the Atlantic. In 1812, the first canning factory opened in New York City. It used tin and iron cans to preserve vegetables, fruits, meats, and oysters.
As you might expect, the demand for canned food increased as the United States involved itself in more large-scale wars, including the American Civil War, the Crimean War, and the Franco-Prussian War.
By the end of the late 19th century, canned food was no longer an item just for the wealthy elite but for everybody. Countless companies, like Heinz, Nestle, and Underwood, sold canned food to working class people living in urban areas.
At home, people jumped on the canning bandwagon by using open kettle canning, which is when you heat food to a boil in a pot, place it in a jar, and put the lid on the jar without processing it any further.
Of course, this method is no longer recommended because it is unsafe. Later, they developed water bath canning, which worked reliably well for fruits and other high-acid foods, but not so much for meat and low-acid vegetables. Although pressure cookers had been around since the late 1600s, it wasn’t until the early 20th century that stovetop pressure canners were introduced.
The Creation of the Perfect Canning Equipment
In 1858, John L. Mason patented the Mason jar, while the Ball Corporation started manufacturing their own version of the famed glass jars in 1884. Alexander Kerr and the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corporation followed suit shortly after, selling home canning supplies as early as 1903.
Demand for canned food increased at the start of the first world war, again, with militaries all over the world looking for inexpensive ways to feed soldiers. On the homefront, canning was praised as a way to preserve food supplies in times of shortages – a trend that existed into the second world war as well.
In 1915, Kerr created the two-piece disposable metal canning lid that we still use today. As canning became more popular, the U.S. The Department of Agriculture invested resources into studying low-acid foods, discovering quickly that pressure canning was the only safe method for reliability.
The Peak of Canning
Home canning peaked in 1943, but then fell in popularity in 1945 as home refrigeration became mainstream.
It wasn’t until the late 1970s that more attention began to be paid to not just how to can – but how to do it safely. In 1977, fifty-nine people contracted botulism after eating home canned jalapenos at a Mexican restaurant in Michigan. A little more than a decade later, the USDA released its first Complete Guide to Home Canning.
Throughout the last few decades, interest in canning has risen and fallen in peaks and droves- often, corresponding to economic downturns. In the aftermath of the 2008 recession, sales of canning-related items rose by nearly 12%. The same was true during the COVID-19 pandemic, too.
The Future of Canning
It’s safe to say that canning isn’t going anywhere. With a growing emphasis on reducing food waste, increasing shelf life, maintaining food quality, and becoming more self-sufficient, the evolution of canning is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping how we consume food in the years to come.
There are all kinds of innovative techniques being explored, like steam canning, vacuum sealing, and improved sterilization methods. These innovations are sure to promote a more sustainable food system.
One thing that’s definitely needed? More resources for people who are interested in starting canning at home. According to a 2005 USDA survey, about 57% of home canners use methods deemed unsafe by USDA standards, such as
Final Thoughts
Through centuries of experimentation, adaptation, and refinement, canning has transcended its utilitarian roots to become a cornerstone of modern food preservation, enabling societies to thrive, economies to prosper, and culinary traditions to endure.
The science behind canning continues to shape how we store, share, and savor the bounty of the harvest year-round.
So what do you think? Are you ready to become a part of history? Start canning today!
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