Food preservation

Food Decay

As of version 1.10, food no longer lasts indefinitely. A combination of game mechanics now affects the rate of food spoilage and methods players can use to preserve and store food items.

Factors Affecting Food Spoilage

Climate

The climate in the place you live in has an effect on the rate of food spoilage. Hot climates greatly increase the rate of decay (up to 2.5x), while very cold greatly decreases the rate (up to 0.1x). 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". To negate the impact of a warm climate, build a cellar.

Food Type

Different types of foods have different rates of spoilage

• Meats: Fast
• Vegetables: Medium
• Fruit/Berries: Medium
• Beans: Slow
• Grains: Slow
• Honey: (Never Decays)
• Fat: (Never Decays)

Note that Grains, Beans and Honey do not benefit from food preservation methods currently available.

Food Preservation Methods

Due to the different components in foods, there are different methods to preserve each type or category of food. All types of food items can be stored in the form of "meals ready to eat", but it is not always practical to cook all food items into meals. Methods that are effective to preserve types of foods (as of game version 1.11) include

• Salt Curing/Pickling (Use for Meat and Vegetables)
• Jam/Preserves (Use for Berries)

Salt Curing and Picking

To salt cure meat or pickle vegetables, you need a barrel, a bucket, fresh water, salt and the food items you want to preserve.

1. Place the barrel onto a solid block
2. Fill the barrel with up to 5 buckets of water
3. Add the required amount of salt into the input slot and wait until this converts to saltwater (brine)
4. Add the items you wish to preserve and seal the barrel to begin the process (25 raw items)
5. Wait 20 days to complete the "curing" process.

• While this process is in progress be aware that you may not open or move this barrel.

Once the food items are pickled or salt preserved, they now require storage in a basket, chest, crock, or storage vessel.

Food items that benefit from Salt Curing/Pickling

• All Meat
• Raw Vegetables including Carrots, Turnips, Parsnips and Cabbage
• Picking Onions yields a minor decrease in decay.

Where do I find salt?

Salt may be purchased from traders or mined from salt deposits. Underground salt domes exist as Halite stone, which can be detected using the prospecting pick. Also, in desert areas one might locate salt in dried lakes close to the surface. Mined salt (Halite) must be ground into salt using the quern.

Preserves/Jam

To make jam, you need a cooking pot, a bucket, honey, and the berries you want to preserve. Berries can be stored by making Jam, which is prepared in the cooking pot. See the cooking page for the Jam recipe.

Food items that benefit from Preserves/Jam

Currently, berries are the only fruit category food item that can be stored in this way. Saguaro fruit cannot be made into jam.

Where do I get Honey?

Honey can be purchased from food traders, and wild hives of bees can be found in the world. For more information about apiculture in Vintage Story, see the page about Bee keeping

Food Preservation Containers

While you can still store food in stationary containers, two new storage options have been added to reduce food decay, even when more advanced preservation methods are unavailable. Early in game, we often do not have the resources to pickle, salt, or preserve meats and vegetables for long term storage. In these cases, a general rule to follow is that it is best to store foods in a Storage Vessel within a Cellar (SVC) or in a Sealed Crock (SC).

• Meats: Decay Rapidly and are best stored as part of a prepared meal (SC)
• Vegetables: Decay at a moderate rate, Store Raw, (SVC)
• Beans: Decay Slowly, Store Dry (SVC)
• Grains: Decay Slowly, Store Dry (SVC)

Crocks

Crocks are fired clay items made using the clay forming interface and must be fired before use. Meals and Pickled vegetables can be stored in crocks providing a slight reduction in food decay and is a good option for short term food storage. For long term storage, sealing the crocks with a lump of fat (which is a process like "canning") reduces decay by a factor of 10. Filled crocks may be carried in player inventories.

Filling Crocks (with meal or jam portions):

1. Place the cooking pot onto a solid block
2. Place the empty crock into an active slot in your hotbar and hover over the cooking pot.
3. Press the Right Mouse Button, as though you were filling a bowl from the cooking pot.
4. Four meal portions will be transferred to the crock.
5. When the crock has any items in it, the label will be filled with a design; empty crocks have "blank" labels.

• Once you transfer meal portions into the crock, you cannot add additional portions of a different item, even if the crock is not completely filled.

Emptying Crocks (sealed or unsealed):

1. Place the crock onto a solid block
2. Place an empty bowl into an active slot in your hotbar and hover over the crock.
3. Press the Right Mouse Button, as though you were filling a bowl from the cooking pot.

• You do not need to unseal a crock. When you remove meal portions from a crock this action removes the seal, which is not replaced unless you reseal the crock with another piece of fat.

Removing Rotten Food from Crocks:

1. Q (Throw) the crock into a water source block
2. The rot will float out of the crock and both items can be picked up separately

Sealing Crocks (For Long Term Storage)

• Combine the filled crock + a piece of fat inside your crafting grid.
• When removed from the output slot the crock will be sealed, and the message "sealed" will appear in the GUI text when examining the crock.

Crocks that are filled or empty can be placed on shelves that hold 8 crocks at a time.

• You may not access a crock when it is on a shelf, though you may read the contents while it is on a shelf.

Storage Vessels

Storage Vessels are fired clay items made using the clay forming interface and must be fired before use. Any unprepared food item (not meals) can be stored in vessels, which provide storage benefits by reducing food decay rates. These vessels are good options for short and long term food storage. More information will be added to describe the uses of SV.

Food Preservation Locations

Any completely enclosed space is recognized by the game as a cellar, even if it is above ground, and will increase the shelf life of your food items.

Cellars

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 you decide to create a cellar in your build:

• Build your walls from solid soil, brick, or stone materials
• Keep door count low. The best is no doors.
• Keep the sunlight level inside the cellar low. Artificial lights are okay.
• Cellars should be no larger than 6 x 6 x 6 blocks. If the room exceeds these dimensions, it might not be recognized as a cellar.

Once you have created a cellar, you can place any food either on a solid block (those that are placeable) or inside containers. All items stored in the cellar will receive equal food decay reduction. You can verify the storage benefit by looking at the block info HUD. It will display something in the likes of Stored food perish speed: 0.24 - which in this case means food will last about 4 times longer.

Effect Stacking

Food preservation benefits from methods, containers and locations ALL stack, so it is best to combine as many preservation solutions as possible. Example: Cooked or pickled (method) turnips should be stored inside a sealed crock (container) inside a fully enclosed cellar (location).