To keep something from spoiling or changing; to maintain something in its current state; also a noun for jam or fruit conserves.
From Old French 'preserver' (to protect), from Latin 'praeservare' (to protect beforehand). The meaning evolved to include food preservation through canning and fermenting.
Before refrigeration, preserving food through methods like salting, smoking, and making jam was essential for survival through winters—these techniques are now revived as 'artisanal' but were once literally matters of life and death.
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