Canned Food

Nicolas Appert, France, patent of 1810. The preservation method that fed armies and navies.

Overview

Confectioner Appert won Napoleon's 12,000 franc prize for preserving food by heating it in sealed champagne bottles, patenting the process in 1810. Peter Durand took the tin can idea to Britain the same year. Appert died poor; canning made others rich. The 1858 Mason jar patent brought canning home. Armies marched on tinned rations through the Crimea and both world wars. The can opener waited until 1858, decades of hammer and chisel later.