Inventions & Discoveries · Farming and food

Canning

1809 · 19th century

Canning is a method of preserving food by processing it and sealing it in an airtight container, a glass jar or a steel or tin can. In 1809 the French confectioner and brewer Nicolas Appert, answering a government prize of 12,000 francs for preserved rations for the Grande Armée, developed a way of sealing food in glass jars, and was awarded the prize in 1810. In London Peter Durand patented the tin can process in 1810, and Bryan Donkin made sealed cans of tinned wrought iron, sold chiefly to the British Army and Royal Navy. Why the food kept was explained only when Louis Pasteur showed the role of microbes.

Canning
Image: John Nathan Cobb · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

On the inventions tree

First known
1809
Where
France
Credited to
Nicolas Appert · Peter Durand · Bryan Donkin

NoteThe Dutch navy was reported to carry salmon in tin-plated iron boxes as early as 1772; the tin can patented by Durand in 1810 was allegedly the idea of the Frenchman Philippe de Girard.

Built onGlassmakingc. 2500 BCE

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Mentioned in 4 state histories

American SamoaDiego-Suarez ColonyDuchy of BrunswickFree State of Brunswick

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Canning. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/canning
MLA
“Canning.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/canning. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Canning.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/canning.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Canning’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/canning (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻