Food preservation: Difference between revisions

As of game version 1.10, food spoils over time and decays into rot. The mechanics introduced to ensure your food supply include preservation methods, storage containers and the introduction of cellars.

The climate in which the food is stored affects the rate of food spoilage. Hot climates can increase the decay rate to 2.5x (250%), while very cold climates can reduce the decay rate to 0.1x (10%). Only the climate at sea level is considered, so placing your food high up in the mountains will have no effect if the mountain is in a hot climate.

Different types of foods have different lifetimes. Food items remain 100% fresh for a specific time period (shown in the table below). After this time, food items begin to decay at a rate affected by storage containers, storage locations, and climate conditions. As food items decay, they lose nutrition value and will eventually become "rot".

{| class="wikitable"

! Food !! Freshness time, hours

| Raw meat || 36

| Cooked meat || 120

| Cured meat || 8760

| Vegetable || 504

| Pumpkin || 216

| Onion || 672

| Cooked Cattail Root || 48

| All Other Fruits || 48

| Cranberries || 96

| Soybeans || 8760

| Pickled soybeans || 4320

| Grains || 2160

Note that unlike other pickled items pickled soybeans decay faster, but can be eaten without further cooking, unlike raw soybeans.

Due to the different components in foods, there are different methods to preserve each type or category of food. Almost all types of food items can be stored in the form of cooked meals, but it is not always practical to cook all food items into meals.  

=== Salt Curing (Preserving Meats) ===

Curing meats requires a barrel, [[salt]] and the raw meat to preserve. Each unit of meat requires two units of salt, i.e. 32 meat = 64 salt. After adding the appropriate ingredients into the input slot of the barrel, the GUI will state the process yield. At this point the barrel must be sealed for 480 hours to complete the curing process.

Pickling vegetables requires a barrel, a bucket, [[salt]], water, and the vegetables to preserve. Water and salt are mixed in the barrel to make [[brine]] before adding the vegetables.  Otherwise, the process of pickling is very similar to salt curing. Each vegetable or legume uses one unit of brine and the barrel must remain sealed for 336 hours.

=== Jam (Preserving Berries) === <!--T:11-->

Making jam requires a cooking pot, a bucket, [[beekeeping|honey]], and [[Berries|berries]].

Berries can be stored by making jam, which is prepared in the cooking pot. See the cooking page for the [[Cooking|jam recipe]].

For longest shelf life, Jam should be stored in a sealed crock.

== Food preservation containers == <!--T:13-->

Four meals can be stored in [[crocks]] providing a slight reduction in food decay, which is a good option for short term food storage. For long term storage, sealing the crocks with a lump of fat or wax reduces decay by a factor of 10. Filled crocks may be carried in player inventories.

=== Storage Vessels ===

To negate the impact of a warm climate, build a cellar.

[[File:Cellar.png|425px|thumb|right|Typical layout of a cellar filled with Crocks on shelves, storage vessels, chests and 2 barrels of pickled food]]

To maximize the cellar effect when building:

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Once a cellar is created any food items may be placed on a solid block or inside containers. All items stored in the cellar will receive equal food decay reduction. Players can verify the storage benefit by looking at the block info HUD. It will display something like <code>Stored food perish speed: 0.25</code> - which in this case means food will last 4 times longer.

== Effect stacking == <!--T:20-->

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Food preservation benefits from methods, containers, and locations stack, so it is best to combine as many preservation solutions as possible. Generally, all food should be stored in a cellar.