Containers: Food Containers

Most food, before and after preparation, has to be kept in a container to protect it from insects, rodents, or just the moisture in the air. In particular, staples—flour, sugar, salt, ground meal, spices, coffee, and tea—historically were stored in bulk in close-fitted containers. Tea and some spices were so expensive in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that the small containers in which they were stored were kept locked. The earliest American food containers were barrels, baskets, boxes, canisters, and ceramic crocks or jugs. The first American patent for any kind of container was issued in 1811, for barrel staves and lids.