Food preservation
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.
Factors affecting food spoilage
Climate
The climate in which the food is stored has an effect on 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.
Food type
Different types of foods have different lifetimes.
| Food | Freshness time, hours |
|---|---|
| Raw meat | 36 |
| Cooked meat | 120 |
| Cured meat | 8760 |
| Vegetable | 504 |
| Pumpkin | 216 |
| Onion | 672 |
| Cooked Cattail Root | 48 |
| Pickled vegetable | 1800 |
| Fruit | 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.
Food preservation methods
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 meat you wish 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 (Preserving Vegetables)
Pickling vegetables requires a barrel, a bucket, salt, water, and the vegetables you wish 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.
Once the food items are pickled or salt preserved, they can be stored in any stationary container, though storage vessels are best.
Jam (Preserving Berries)
To make jam, you need a cooking pot, a bucket, honey, and berries. Berries can be stored by making jam, which is prepared in the cooking pot. See the cooking page for the jam recipe. For longest shelf life, Jam should be stored in a sealed crock.
Food preservation containers
While you can still store food in any stationary container, storage vessels are best for storing grains and vegetables. Storage vessels and crocks are fairly easy to make, requiring only clay. However to increase the shelf life of meats and vegetables, combining preserving methods with containers is best.
Crocks
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
Any unprepared food item can be stored in vessels, which provide storage benefits to preserved foods as well as raw foods. These vessels are good options for short and long term food storage as they reduce decay 75% for veggies and 50% for grains.
Storage Locations
To negate the impact of a warm climate, build a cellar.
Cellars
To maximize the cellar effect when you decide to create a cellar in your build:
- Build your walls from solid soil, ceramic, or stone materials.
- Keep door count low. The best is no doors.
- Cellars should be no larger than 6 blocks in any direction. If the room exceeds this, it will not be recognized as a cellar.
Once you have created a cellar, you can place any food either on a solid block 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 like Stored food perish speed: 0.25 - which in this case means food will last 4 times longer.
Effect stacking
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.
