Things like “dry aged” steak.
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Let’s use aging cheese (I’ll use caerphilly as an example, but the process is the same with a lot of different types)
You’re culturing the milk with bacteria that’s food safe so it outcompetes occult strains of bacteria that isn’t food safe.
Then you’re scooping out the curd which is basically making all the proteins clump together, a form of removing water that would allow bad bacteria to grow.
Then you’re salting it (drawing out water and creating an environment that’s hostile to bacteria on the surface), pressing it (further squeezing out water), then putting it on the bench for the exterior to dry and turning it twice a day so it dries evenly.
While that happens, you wash the outside of the cheese with salt water to wash off any spots of mold that might start growing while that happens. Then when its reached about a month of aging, you cut the hard rind that’s formed on the outside off and eat the interior.
Cheesemaking is a way of preserving milk. Other stuff like wine is a way of preserving fruit by using a specific yeast culture to outcompete other cultures that are trying to eat the sugars. The aging of wine requires a stabiliser to kill the yeast culture when the sugar is eaten, otherwise it will keep eating and turn into acetic acid (vinegar). The aging of wine is less for preservation and more to let the harsh flavors mellow out over time though.
That’s the basics of aging. Stuff’s going to be growing anyway, so you’re making sure that whatever’s growing is something safe for you to eat.
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