Nicolas Appert

Nicolas Appert (1750?-1841), French chef and inventor who developed the modern process of preserving food by sterilizing it in sealed containers (see Canning).

Born in Châlons-sur-Marne (now Châlons-en-Champagne), France, Appert was the self-educated son of an innkeeper. He learned the practice of brewing beer and pickling food at an early age, and later served his apprenticeship as a chef at the Palais Royal Hotel in Chalons, France. Appert moved to Paris in 1780, where he became well known for his pastries and candies.

By the 1790s feeding the growing military forces of Emperor Napoleon I of France was a serious problem, and a method was needed to prevent food from spoiling. In 1795 a monetary prize was offered by the French Directory (the executive branch of the French government) to anyone who found a practical way to preserve food.

At that time chemistry was only beginning to emerge, and bacteria had not been discovered. The only reference to preserving food by sterilization had been published in 1765. However, by 1809 Appert had successfully preserved some foods by placing them in glass bottles, which were stoppered loosely and immersed in hot water. After the bottles had been heated, they were removed from the water and sealed tightly. If the seals were not broken until just before the foods were eaten, there was usually no spoilage.

While Appert’s trial-and-error experiments were conducted with little modern scientific knowledge, his methods were based on the practice of heating foods to temperatures above 100° C (212° F), the point at which water boils. To accomplish this, Appert perfected the design of an autoclave, which sterilizes items under high steam pressure.

In 1810 Appert was awarded the equivalent of $2300 for solving the problem of preserving food. The following year, he published The Art of Preserving all Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several Years, and in 1812 he was awarded a gold medal by the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry.