Canning and Bottling: Civil War

By 1860 canned goods were an expensive specialty item consumed by few Americans. In the following year American canners greatly sped up the processing of food by heating cans in a solution of calcium chloride and reduced the time the cans remained in a water bath. This and other innovations caused the canning industry to leap ahead during the Civil War. The federal government began purchasing small amounts of canned goods in 1863; this action primed the pump, and canneries sprang up across northern states. The quality of these operations improved, as did their efficiency, which lowered costs. The result was that millions of Americans were exposed to canned goods, including Confederate soldiers, who often raided Union supply trains. The demand for canned goods grew after the war, and the upward spiral continued. Where 5 million cans were put up annually in 1860, the figure was six times greater a decade later. By the 1880s, canned foods were commonly available in most grocery stores throughout the nation.