1.20.1 / Advanced Mechanics / Preservation

Preservation

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In TerraFirmaCraft, no food will last forever! Food will expire over time, turning rotten. Rotten food will not restore any hunger, and has the potential to give you unhelpful effects such as Hunger or Poison!

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to make your food last longer by Preserving it.

When you hover over a piece of food, you will see a tooltip which shows how long the food has until it will rot. It might look something like:

Expires on: 5:30 July 5, 1000 (in 5 day(s))

By using various preservation mechanics, that date can be extended, giving you more time before your food roots.

Vessels

One of the easiest ways to preserve food is to use a Vessel. Large Vessels are a block which can store up to nine items, and when sealed the items inside will gain the Preserved status, which extends their remaining lifetime by 2x.

Small Vessels are a item which can store up to four other items, and will also apply the Preserved status to their contents.

A Sealed Large Vessel.

Cooking

One other way to easily preserve certain types of food is to cook them. Meats will all expire slower when they are cooked than when they are raw.

It is also important to use the correct device for cooking. Certain devices that heat very hot, such as a Charcoal Forge or a Crucible are bad for cooking food, which will make them expire faster!

Instead, a Firepit or a Grill can even provide a buff for using it! For example, cooking mutton (pictured above) in a Firepit will increase its lifetime by 1.33x, and cooking in a Grill will increase its lifetime by 1.66x!

Salting

Salting is a way to make meat last longer. To salt meat, it must be crafted with Salt in a crafting grid. Only raw meat can be salted. Afterwards, cooking or otherwise preserving the meat does not take away the salted property.

One way of getting salt is through grinding Halite, which is a mineral.

Salt Licks

Salt can be found naturally in forests. It can be placed and picked back up.

Vinegar Preservation is a way of making fruits, veggies, and meat last longer.

Vinegar is made in a Barrel, by sealing a fruit with 250mB of Alcohol. To preserve food in vinegar it must first be Pickled in Brine. Brine is made in a barrel with 1 part Vinegar and 9 parts Salt Water.

Once food is pickled, it can be sealed in a Barrel of Vinegar. If there is 125mB of Vinegar per pickled food item, the food will last longer.

Food should be stored in either sealed large vessels or in Small Vessels. Food that is left sitting in chests or other devices can attract Rats. Rats are able to open containers and eat the food out of them, but will despawn if they can't find something for a few minutes. You will be alerted to a rat's presence by the message 'This container has a foul smell'. It is important to note that unsealing and resealing a large vessel before you leave the screen will never attract pests.