The commercially canned products available in the past largely contained overcooked food that was mushy, too salty and tasted anything but fresh—if it had any flavor at all. The only positive characteristic was the safety, with the impossibility of any bacteria surviving the process unless the can was faulty. Thankfully, though the basic procedures are much the same, since then a lot has been discovered about thermal processing—we’ve turned down the heat and maybe even saved a little energy in the process.