Food preservation

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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 foods rate of spoilage. Hot climates greatly increase it (up to 2.5x), while very cold greatly decreases it (up to 0.1x). Only the climate at sea level is considered, so placing your food high up in the mountain will have no effect. You can negate the impact of a warm climate by building a cellar.

Food Type and Decay Rate

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

Type Specific Methods of Preservation

Different types of foods have different rates of spoilage and there are of course different methods to preserve each type 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)
• Canning/Crock Storage (Use for Prepared Meals or Long Term Food Storage of Preserved Food Items)

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 (25 raw items)
5. Wait for 20 days for the process to complete.

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

Once the food is pickled or salt preserved, it now needs to be stored in a 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 Storage Solutions

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, which provide a slight bonus and is a good option for short term food storage. For long term storage in crocks, sealing the crocks with a piece of fat (like canning) increases the bonus by a factor of 10.

To fill the crock 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.
3. "Bump" the pot with the crock, 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.

To seal the crock:

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

To remove food from the crock:

1. Place the crock onto a solid block
2. Place an empty bowl into an active slot in your hotbar.
3. "Bump" the crock, 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.

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 and reduce food decay rates. These vessels are good options for short and long term food storage.

Cellars

Typical layout of a cellar filled with Crocks on shelves, storage vessels, chests and 2 barrels of pickled food

Any completely enclosed space is recognized by the game as a cellar and will increase the shelf life of all your food items. To maximize the effect:

• 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 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 benefits and food decay will be reduced. 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 stack, so it is best to combine as many preservation methods as possible. Italic textExample: Cooked or pickled turnips should be stored inside a sealed crock inside a fully enclosed cellar.