How do you keep food from rotting in the medieval times?

Answer 1

Pickling, salting, drying, smoking are all ways of extending the shelf life of food. There were some ways we learnt for camping in girl guides like submerging in a bag in a cool stream which acts like a refrigerator. I also think in the past people were much better at knowing what was in season, and cooking/eating that while storing what they could for later.

Answer 2

Keeping food good in the Middle Ages was a hard thing to do because fresh food goes bad in a few hours. Often foods were dried out and salted to keep for a few more days. Meat, apples,peaches, and other dried food were created. The large Manors had huge kitchens with lower level cellars to try to keep food cool and there was a big fireplace cooking food. Young boys had the job turning the spit for cooking the meat. It was a really bad job to have because of the heat and danger. Most of the food was over cooked, mushy, spoiled, had bugs, and generally didn't taste very good. They didn't have plates, but trenchers which were thick pieces of wood often soiled with food and bugs. Thick slices of bread were also used. If you had gone to a big dinner celebration you would enter a large hall set up with tables and a high table. The high table was where the nobles ate and they had salt. No one else had salt. The floor of the room would have rushes that were shoveled out once a year and these had old food, animal feces, mice, rats, and would smell. The dogs would be everywhere looking for food from the leftovers people threw on the floor. The people would be eating with their hands and a possible knife. Spoons and forks were being developed, but weren't like the ones we have. They were usually made of iron and I would imagine that using iron for eating probably caused health problems. Many people didn't have teeth and they didn't wash or take a bath more than once or twice a year. So, your dinner would have been a stinky mess with mushy food and buggy meats.

Answer 3

They didn't. Some foods were smoked or salted, but most food was bad. It was over cooked, mushy, and had maggots or other bugs in the food. This is one reason spices were so welcomed because they could make food taste better. Yet, only the rich could afford the spices, pepper, and salt. Salt was so valuable that it was kept in small boxes called salt cellars and only served by tiny spoons to the nobility. The Middle Ages was a stinky dirty time with unwashed people, rotten food, and the castles had rushes on the floor that were an awful mess. Rotten food, rats, mice, and the dogs. Once a year it was shoveled out. Large cities like London and Paris stunk so bad you could smell them before seeing them.