A Food Preservation request megapost.

[Pwnlord]

Long-term survival is a tricky proposition. Doubly so in that you can't preserve an enormous number and variety of foods-yet.

 

Jars and Jar Lids are way rarer than they have any business to be. There's dozens of things that come in glass jars in even the most basic kitchen-pickles, salsa, premade pasta sauce, olives, applesauce, sauerkraut-and my mother's home canning business buys jars in bulk from K-Mart and the local hardware store. Furthermore, despite being in a farming state, nobody appears to can their own fruit-no jam, no jellies, no preserves, no marmalade. On top of that, there's no jerky-makers among the hunters; no sides of venison sitting in smokers; no freezers containing mountains of chops, roasts, ribs, steaks, and sausage; despite being in Kentucky, Fort Knox and Muldraugh are apparently one big pile of generic suburbia.

 

This post addresses meat preservation better than I could, and leads into the preservation options I'd like for fruit...but he's left out the obvious!

 

Jam!

 

Combine multiple wild berries to make Wild Berry Jam, and turn all those little +1, +2, and +3 Hunger berries into a nice big crock of Happiness-boosting sweetness. Strawberry Jam for a little pot of joy. Peach Jam to brighten your day. And, of course, with all of the above...the purest comfort food, a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich becomes possible. On top of these are Preserves-not merely "jam but thicker", but fruit in syrup; preserved peaches, spiced pears, Watermelon Rind Pickle, quince (impossible to eat until preserved or cooked), conserved berries, marmalades, the list goes on...

 

And, of course, if it comes out of the ground and you can eat it, you can pickle it.

 

Cucumbers for pickles would be nice, of course. Zucchini are crap pickled, but there is really no reason for them to not be implemented. Pickled cabbage is better known as...sauerkraut! Yes, you can pickle corn.

 

Furthermore, if it comes off an animal, you can turn it into jerky. I've been to enough state fairs to know.

 

And now, the recipes:

 

CANNING

 

The canning process requires multiple pots-one pot to cook your fruit in, and another to seal the jars.

 

(Fruit) jam/marmalade: 30-hunger fruit (2 Apple/Peach/Lemon/Orange/Grapes; 1 1/2 Bananas, 10 Cherries, 15 Blackberries/Blueberries, or 6 Strawberries), 1 Sugar, 1 mug Water.

 

(Fruit) Preserves: 30-hunger fruit, 2 Sugar, (spices).

 

Crafting these only provides the uncooked base, needing to be added to a pot to make a Pot of Uncooked Jam. You can put up to ten of the same Uncooked Jam into a Cooking Pot, then cook it for two hours to get a Pot of Jam. You then make Unsealed Jars of Jam the same way you make Bowls of Soup or Bowls of Stew from a Pot of Soup or Stew, and cook those another ten minutes in a Pot of Water to get Sealed Jars of Jam.

 

Unsealed Jars of Jam provide the same bonus but go off in a much shorter period of time, and are the result of opening a Sealed Jar of Jam but not using all of it as well as not sealing one in the first place.

 

Pickling vegetables works the same as it does now, save for using a Salt Shaker instead of an entire bag of sugar.

 

Speaking of Vinegar...

 

BOOZE AND VINEGAR

 

If you've got booze and rags, you've got vinegar in the offing. Just pour some into an open jar, tie a clean rag on top, and wait awhile, checking every so often.

 

But what if you've run out the tasty red, lovely chardonnay, and sharp whiskey?

 

You make your own, of course.

 

There's all that corn to the north, and you can certainly make barrels by Carpentry 6, as demonstrated by the Rain Barrel. Enable the creation of a new Barrel, and you can make Corn Beer from corn.

 

...with considerable further difficulty, requiring the addition of a couple extra items that thankfully have their own separate uses.

 

Dried Corn and Cornbread!

I'd assume you can dry corn in an oven or kiln-until a kiln is added, perhaps for ceramics, it'll be oven or fire only.

 

Use a Knife on Corn, get Corn Kernels, dry in oven to get Dried Corn.

 

According to this post, it's quite possible to just throw cornbread into the mash to make wort and be done with it. Making that mash, however, is another thing entirely.

 

This guide says you need a pound of grain per quart of water, and this article says you don't need hops. Assuming the Cooking Pot holds three gallons, that's six pounds of grain. Cook that for an hour, and you've got a Mash-suitable for eating, feeding to pigs, or washing in a Bucket. Washing the Mash produces Wort, which can be consumed for a mild Happiness, Hunger and Thirst bonus or taken to the next stage.

 

Cook the wort for another hour, then pour it into your barrel. Wait a couple weeks, and either get Failed Beer or Corn Beer.

 

Open the barrel and cover it with Clean Rags to get an enormous amount of Vinegar, or pull individual bottles and let them sit for smaller amounts. Bam, you can now make all the vinegar you need.

 

SUGAR CREATION

 

Sugar Beets are grown only occasionally in Kentucky. Sugar cane was grown historically, and might still be found growing feral. What IS grown in quantity is Sweet Sorghum, and that you could grow relatively easily without planting it near a river, pond or swamp.

 

Since it doesn't matter particularly to the player whether they use white or brown sugar for preserving or baked goods, refinement isn't necessary. Just cook the Sugarcane/Sorghum/Sugar Beets into Blackstrap Molasses, strain that through a Clean Rag to get Molasses, and cook that down into Brown Sugar.

 

SALT ACQUISITION

 

Salt's harder. According to this map, there's a salt deposit along a creek 40 miles from Muldraugh, which would require cars and special dispensation on the map. That said...salt is sold in boxes for a reason. There's no reason to not put boxes of salt around the map; this would make preserving a more viable option, but still ultimately a temporary one.

 

Unless you add traveling traders.

 

With the addition of driveable vehicles and NPCs, the gameworld gets a lot larger. Three years in, there's gonna be a lot less zed, and people will start rebuilding. Rebuilders will need stuff they can't get locally-the traditional goods of wood, iron, and salt; and various precious commodities no longer available elsewhere. Trade will become a thing again, and the Survivor and their enclave will have a means to access salt, new stocks of scrap metal and raw iron...but perhaps I overreach the aim of this post.

 

Anyway. Three pound boxes of salt in various houses. How 'bout it.

 

TL;DR

 

New items:

 

Box of Salt

More Food In Jars

Large Jar of Olives (-Hunger, +Happiness, +Thirst)

Large Jar of Pickles (contains four Pickles)

Pasta Sauce (Prego, Progresso, Ragu, what have you)

Jar of Salsa (-Hunger, -Happiness like Ketchup et al unless applied to Burger or Casserole)

Jar of Sauerkraut (-Hunger, +Thirst, keeps one month after opened even without refrigeration)

Jar of Applesauce (-Hunger, -Thirst, +Happiness)

Box of Jars (Jars+Jar Lids x12)

Jams & Preserves

Applesauce

Pineapple Jam/Preserves

Grape Jelly

Peach Jam/Preserves

Marmalade (Lemons or oranges result in the same thing to save assets)

Cherry Jam

Blackberry Jam

Blueberry Jam

Strawberry Jam/Preserves

Confits, Sausages and Hams as addressed above

Barrel (Carpentry 6, four Planks, four Nails, possibly two Scrap Metal)

Corn Beer

Corn Vinegar

Dried Corn

Corn Mash

Wort

Sorghum OR Sugarcane OR Sugar Beets

Blackstrap Molasses

Molasses

Brown Sugar

Corn Kernels

 

 

Modifications to existing mechanics:

Jars now spawn in Large Crates and Hardware Stores.

Various jams+jellies spawn in cabinets and sheds.

 

Thoughts?

[Svarog]

Deadend made a pretty damn brilliant mod that does canning way better than the base game does.

http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/9316-canning-essentials-an-in-depth-food-canning-mod-v08-90/

I would kind of love to actually see that integrated into the game as I find the default canning mechanics to be shallow as a puddle, they just feel completely half assed and crowbared into the game because of popular demand, that system just deserves more depth than it has.

 

Moderator Warning

Remember the "Be lovely" rule?

[EnigmaGrey]

Deadend made a pretty damn brilliant mod that does canning way better than the base game does.

http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/9316-canning-essentials-an-in-depth-food-canning-mod-v08-90/

I would kind of love to actually see that integrated into the game as I find the default canning mechanics to be shallow as a puddle, they just feel completely half assed and crowbared into the game because of popular demand, that system just deserves more depth than it has.

It was meant mainly to give you further incentive to go through the mall, and provide only enough materials to get you through the winter, rather than provide the ability to survive indefinitely. It was added becuase this sort of thing is inevitable and necessary in a game that bills itself as survival, but hasn't really been fleshed out since it's addition. I'm sure Romain will return to it when he has some free time.

[Trojan_Turps]

Deadend made a pretty damn brilliant mod that does canning way better than the base game does.

http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/9316-canning-essentials-an-in-depth-food-canning-mod-v08-90/

I would kind of love to actually see that integrated into the game as I find the default canning mechanics to be shallow as a puddle, they just feel completely half assed and crowbared into the game because of popular demand, that system just deserves more depth than it has.

It was meant mainly to give you further incentive to go through the mall, and provide only enough materials to get you through the winter, rather than provide the ability to survive indefinitely. It was added becuase this sort of thing is inevitable and necessary in a game that bills itself as survival, but hasn't really been fleshed out since it's addition. I'm sure Romain will return to it when he has some free time.

Free time lol...

Poor bloke

[Zorak]

Deadend made a pretty damn brilliant mod that does canning way better than the base game does.

http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/9316-canning-essentials-an-in-depth-food-canning-mod-v08-90/

I would kind of love to actually see that integrated into the game as I find the default canning mechanics to be shallow as a puddle, they just feel completely half assed and crowbared into the game because of popular demand, that system just deserves more depth than it has.

It was meant mainly to give you further incentive to go through the mall, and provide only enough materials to get you through the winter, rather than provide the ability to survive indefinitely. It was added becuase this sort of thing is inevitable and necessary in a game that bills itself as survival, but hasn't really been fleshed out since it's addition. I'm sure Romain will return to it when he has some free time.

I think that the main problem with the system we have is that you will find tons of canned food before you will find all the stuff to put things into jar. Jars lids and vinegar are way too rare (+1 time use lid) to care about this feature.

[EnigmaGrey]

I think that the main problem with the system we have is that you will find tons of canned food before you will find all the stuff to put things into jar. Jars lids and vinegar are way too rare (+1 time use lid) to care about this feature.

 

 

That's fair enough -- I don't think the scarcity currently shown is a particularly good choice, but it fits with the design goals, counter to Svarog's comment.

 

Finding canned food itself shouldn't matter: there's much more canned food in reality than the materials for canning, even now. Most supermarkets within urban areas don't even stock the stuff, unless it's the fall, at least where I live.