Grocery – what is it and what goods belong to the group, bulk and liquid products, preservation

The content of the article

• What is grocery
• Who is a grocer
• Groceries
• Bulk products
• Preservation
• Liquid products

Often in everyday life you have to hear such a word as grocery, but not everyone knows what is meant by it. This term refers to gastronomy. There are several theories regarding its origin. According to one of them – this name came from the Turkish language – from the word “bakkal” (bakkal), the translation of which means a merchant in vegetables. In another, this term is of Arab origin and translates as greens, vegetables.

What is grocery

Grocery is a whole group of food products that have undergone special culinary processing, due to which they are subject to long-term storage in certain conditions. Products of this category are sold both in packaged form and by weight. In addition to food products, including a variety of canned foods and semi-finished products, even some basic household goods, such as matches, washing powder, soap, are included in this grocery.

Compared to other food products, groceries can boast a long shelf life and unpretentiousness in storage. In terms of organizing food retail, groceries are contrasted with gastronomic products. The latter, as a rule, are already ready for use, are expensive and require special storage conditions. A significant part of the products of this category may be required in restaurants, eateries, barbecue, etc. Cafes, bistros and fast food establishments are limited to a minimum set of grocery products.

Special conditions for the storage of such products are not required, but there are several features of preserving the presentation and freshness of dry products, which are important to consider:

• Groceries do not really like high air temperatures, especially for cereals, pasta, flour. An ideal temperature value is not more than 8 degrees heat. In practice, it is difficult to maintain this parameter in the pantry of a diner or restaurant, therefore it is necessary to observe a simpler rule – the temperature should not be above +18 degrees. To maintain it, an ordinary air conditioner is quite suitable.
• For proper storage, low humidity is mandatory, the rate of which should not be higher than 60-70%. Dry products that are not hermetically sealed can absorb a large amount of moisture – this will significantly reduce the shelf life of some products. There are exceptions to this rule, for example, salt and sugar will lose their presentation in the absence of the proper level of humidity, but at the same time they will retain their taste, physical qualities. Flour, coffee, tea, in addition to fear of moisture, are also sensitive to pungent odors – if they are open or left in leaky closed packaging, then these products are more likely to have an unpleasant odor, the taste will change.
• A grocery group of goods requires a good ventilation system or at least frequent ventilation of the room. Access to fresh air will help fight odors, dampness, insect pests of grain stocks.
• Products located on shelves should not be in contact with the ceiling or walls, and the minimum distance from the floor to the first shelf should be about 20 cm, but not less. In this case, attention should be paid to compliance with sanitary standards, i.e. regular cleaning should be carried out in the room, animal and pest control should be conducted.

Who is a grocer

If you go into history, in pre-revolutionary Russia groceries denoted a group of dry edible goods: first dried fruits, smoked meats, and then it was replenished with flour, coffee, sugar, tea, cereals, spices. In the future, the term grocery appeared, and the seller, who was engaged in the sale of groceries, kept a grocery store, called a grocer. These were respected people who laid the foundation for modern retail..

In the USSR, Glavbakaleya was engaged in the sale of groceries from the 1950s. The legislation of the Soviet Union established special requirements for inventories, the workplace of a grocery employee and other aspects of trade. It was additionally prescribed to conduct a systematic fight against various pests. Thanks to the availability of affordable refrigeration equipment, almost every modern grocery department or store can sell both groceries and gastronomic goods, including fresh vegetables, fruits.

Groceries

Due to the wide variety of products that fall into the grocery category, clearly categorizing them is very difficult. In most cases, they are divided into the following three groups of what relates to groceries:

• bulk products;
• obtained by conservation;
• liquid products.

Bulk products

This group of groceries is the widest. It includes a large number of products that are used by many consumers daily. For example, from buckwheat and rice make cereals, soups, flour is used to make bakery products, spices are used to give the dish a certain taste, etc. The main bulk food products include:

• All types of flour (rye, wheat, corn, etc.) and special mixtures made from it, which are used for baking: pancakes, muffins, pancakes, etc..
• Different varieties of tea, instant and natural coffee, cocoa. Often, for the convenience of classification, this range of products is allocated into a separate subgroup – this is due to a wide variety of varieties.
• Cereals. A subgroup consisting of a large number of products that are included in the daily diet of most consumers. This type of grocery consists of such cereals as wheat (ground, flakes), barley, semolina, buckwheat (minced, cereal, kernel), oat (including hercules), corn.
• Legumes. Groceries include peas, soy, lentils, beans, chickpeas in this category..
• Nutritional supplements consisting of gelatin, yeast, baking powder and other dry concentrates.
• Spices. An extensive subgroup that includes products that are used to give dishes a certain taste, smell. Its list includes saffron, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, ground pepper, coriander and other products that can add spice to the food with special piquancy.
• Spice. This subgroup consists of sugar, salt, citric acid, vanillin..
• Instant drinks in powder form (milk, cream, concentrate for jelly), instant fast foods, the so-called “breakfast cereals”, which include cereal, cereal.
• Products in a snack bag, for example, dried small fish, chips, crackers, popcorn, crackers, etc..
• Pasta of different varieties: horns, noodles, vermicelli, spaghetti, etc..
• In a separate subgroup, you can select nuts, seeds, dried vegetables, dried fruits.

Preservation

Grocery, which was prepared for long-term storage by preservation, gained considerable distribution. The essence of this method is the technical processing of food products in order to inhibit the vital activity of microorganisms that spoil the products. The following products fall into this category of groceries:

• All types of canned food: meat (stewed beef, pork, turkey paste), vegetable (olives olives, caviar, green peas, pickled tomatoes, cucumbers), fish (mackerel, sprats, sprat, tuna, saury), fruit and berry ( orange, raspberry, strawberry jam, slices of pineapple, halves of peaches) and others.
• Ready-made canned foods, such as naval pasta, buckwheat, ham, roast, vegetable appetizer and much more.
• Ready-made seasonings, for example, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, adjika. All sorts of sauces are also included..

Liquid products

In the grocery, in addition to bulk and canned products, liquid products are also isolated. This category of goods is offered for sale not only in sealed plastic bags or bottles, but also in plastic, glass, and tin cans. The list of this grocery group consists of:

• Vegetable oils. They are found in any grocery department – this is sunflower oil, olive, cotton, etc..
• Milk canned food. These products, in fact, also belong to the category of canned food, but its contents are liquid. This subgroup includes concentrated milk, condensed milk with sugar, whole milk with sugar, etc..
• All types of honey, for example, flower, linden, mountain.