Preserving Foods
There were many different ways to keep food fresh during the winter months. The Habitants preserved bacon with a lot of salt. If they prepared the bacon with care, it could withstand many temperature changes. If one barrel of bacon were to go bad, it could cause the family to starve in the winter months. The Aboriginals preserved food by hanging the dried goods from the ceiling, putting them in storage porches at each end, or storing food in pits dug in the ground. The Iroquois and Huron taught the Habitants another way to preserve meat. This form of preserving food was called smoking. It was widely used by First Nation peoples, but colonists learned to do it too. In order to smoke the meat, they would hang the game in a chimney and that would be smoking it. As well as keeping food fresh, putting grains in the attic helped insulate the home.