page_title: Nicolas Appert
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Nicolas Appert / Biography
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Bouteille a conserve époque Appert, collection Jean-Paul Barbier, musée Châlons en Champagne salle Appert
context_page_description: Nicolas Appert was the French inventor of airtight food preservation. Appert, known as the "father of canning", was a confectioner.
  Appert described his invention as a way "of conserving all kinds of food substances in containers".
context_section_description: Appert was a confectioner and chef in Paris from 1784 to 1795. In 1795, he began experimenting with ways to preserve foodstuffs, succeeding with soups, vegetables, juices, dairy products, jellies, jams, and syrups. He placed the food in glass jars, sealed them with cork and sealing wax and placed them in boiling water.
  In 1800 Napoleon offered a prize of 12,000 francs for a new method to preserve food.
  In 1806 Appert presented a selection of bottled fruits and vegetables from his manufacture at the Exposition des produits de l'industrie française, but did not win any reward.
  In 1810 the Bureau of Arts and Manufactures of the Ministry of the Interior gave Appert an ex gratia payment of 12,000 francs on condition that he make his process public.
  Appert accepted and published a book describing his process that year.
  Appert's treatise was entitled L'Art de conserver les substances animales et végétales (The Art of Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substances).
  200 copies were printed in 1810.
  This was the first cookbook of its kind on modern food preservation methods.
  La Maison Appert (English: The House of Appert), in the town of Massy, near Paris, became the first food bottling factory in the world, years before Louis Pasteur proved that heat killed bacteria. Appert patented his invention and established a business to preserve a variety of food in sealed bottles. Appert's method was to fill thick, large-mouthed glass bottles with produce of every description, ranging from beef, fowl, eggs, milk, and prepared dishes (according to sources). 
  Appert deliberately avoided using tinplate in his early manufacture because the quality of French tinplate was poor.
  His greatest success for publicity was an entire sheep. He left air space at the top of the bottle, and the cork would then be sealed firmly in the jar by using a vise. The bottle was then wrapped in canvas to protect  it, while it was dunked into boiling water and then boiled for as much time as Appert deemed appropriate for cooking the contents thoroughly.
  In honor of Appert, canning is sometimes called "appertisation", which is distinct from pasteurization. Appert's early attempts at food preservation by boiling involved cooking the food to a temperature far in excess of what is used in pasteurization (70 °C (158 °F)), and can destroy some of the flavour of the preserved food.
  Appert's method was so simple and workable that it quickly became widespread. In 1810, British inventor and merchant Peter Durand patented his own method, but this time in a tin can, so creating the modern-day process of canning foods. In 1812 Englishmen Bryan Donkin and John Hall purchased both patents and began producing preserves. Just a decade later, the Appert method of canning had made its way to America.  Tin can mass production was, however, not common until the beginning of the 20th century, partly because a hammer and chisel were needed to open cans until the invention of a can opener by an Englishman named Robert Yeates in 1855.
caption: Appert canning jar
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