The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances For Several Years

The work L’Art de conserver, pendant plusieurs années, toutes les substances animales et végétales (The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several Years) was authored by Nicolas Appert, a French chef and confectioner. Appert's method, developed over 14 years of experimentation, involved sealing food in glass containers and heating them in boiling water. This process, which he began in 1795, was a response to a French government prize for a method to preserve food for military use.12

Appert's invention laid the groundwork for modern canning. He published his findings in 1810 and used the prize money to establish the first commercial cannery, which operated for over a century. While Appert pioneered the technique, it was Louis Pasteur who later explained the scientific principle behind it: that heat kills microbes, and sealing prevents new ones from entering.213