Here, we will discuss the Methods of Cooking and Food Preservation. Varieties of foods are available for varieties of creatures on Earth.
Different types of animals eat foods in a different way. Cow, goat eat raw vegetables but human beings can’t digest raw vegetables.
Some vegetables like cucumber, onion, tomato, etc can be eaten as raw but some raw vegetables which are hard to digest for human beings are required to be cooked.
Cereals and pulses are also can’t be eaten as raw. After boiling the cereals and pulses, it becomes soft and easy to digest for human beings whereas birds can eat cereals and pulses as raw.
While cooking the vegetables, ginger, garlic, turmeric powder, salt, etc are used as a spice which helps in increasing the test of the foods.
Advantages of eating cooked foods
There are some advantages of eating the cooked foods: It
- becomes soft and people can easily digest it.
- is free of germs.
- is testy.
Several methods of cooking
There are several methods of cooking:
- Boiling
- Steaming
- Frying
- Baking
- Roasting
Food Preservation
Many foods are coming from far distances. Some foods are available here easily but some are not due to the environment. Hence, it becomes necessary to bring that food from other locations. For this, it takes 2-3 days’ time to get that food.
In 2-3 days, that food may begin to spoil. Hence, to keep the food edible condition the preservation of food is very essential. The presence of bacteria, yeasts, molds in the surrounding that causes the food spoiled need to be removed from the food.
Reason for being spoiled of the food
Reason for being spoiled of the food are:
- Contamination by microorganisms, insects
- Degradation by endogenous enzymes
- Oxidation of some constituents of foods
Food spoilage occurs due to the presence of bacteria and fungi which are one type of microorganism and it causes food-borne illness.
Bacteria
Different types of bacterias grow at different temperatures. Depending on temperatures, bacterias are divided into three categories- thermophiles, mesophiles, and psychrotrophic.
Here, the amount of pH by which the acidity level of water is measured plays an important role. Generally, a neutral environment (pH=7) is responsible for the growth of bacterias.
In the presence of water, bacteria grows very fast. The availability of water is termed as Water activity.
Water activity =(Vapor pressure at the food/ vapour pressure of pure water) at a specific temperature.
Its value lies between 0 and 1. The absence of water is denoted by water activity as zero and the presence of it is denoted by water activity as one. Water activity above 0.9 is suitable for the growth of bacterias.
Fungi
Yeast and molds which are also responsible for the spoilage of food are the two types of fungi. The acidic environment (PH<7) helps fungi to grow.
A water activity of more than 9 is also required for the fungi so that it can grow like bacterias.
If we can apply heat or remove water from the food, food will be safe from bacteria and fungi and thus it will refrain from the spoilage which we can use for a few days.
Different ways of preserving the food:
All the above factors compel us to preserve the food. There are different ways of preserving food and they are:
- Drying
- Refrigeration (Reducing the temperature of the food)
- Freezing (Lowering the temperature below 0 degrees C.)
- Fermentation
- Canning (Storing the food in an airtight container)
- Pasteurization (Applying heat to kill the microorganisms)
- Irradiation
- Addition of chemicals
Bacteria can’t grow without the presence of water. We should dry the pulses and cereals before preserving them as sunlight kills the germs. If there are insects within the rice, the rice should be kept in front of the sunlight.
Multiple-Choice Questions or Objective Type Questions on the Methods of Cooking and Food Preservation
Here are some Oral Questions on Cooking and Food Preservation for you:
The multiple-choice questions mentioned here are the basic questions from the chapter -“methods of cooking and food preservation” which will help you if you are a student of class five.
Students may consider this as a test of 20 marks. After completion of the test, they can check the answers by themselves and can come to know how much they are prepared. I hope that the MCQ Questions on The Methods of Cooking and Food Preservation will help you in achieving high scores in your exams.
