Aging (food)

Aging or ageing, in the context of food or beverages, is the leaving of a product over an extended period of time (often months or years) to aid in improving the flavor of the product.

Air-dried meat such as jerky may have been some of the first preserved foods ever eaten by man.

This is especially true in processes such as the making of blue cheese or aged beef.

In the case of beverages, such as the aging of wine, beer, or whiskey, storing the beverage for extended periods of time in wooden casks allows the liquid to extract flavor compounds from the wood itself, adding to the complexity and depth of flavor.

Traditional Balsamic Vinegar is aged for years in a succession of oak barrels to extract and concentrate flavors.