Nicolas Appert was born at Châlons-en-Champagne, Marne, on 17th November 1749. Appert became a confectioner in Paris. In 1795 he began experimenting with ways to preserve food. He eventually came up with the idea of putting the food in glass jars and then sealed them with cork and sealing wax. The bottle was then placed in boiling water, until the contents were cooked.

In January 1810 he won a prize for his invention. Later that year he published details of his research in the book, The Art of Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substances. Appert established the first food bottling factory in the world in Massy. He patented his invention and established a business to preserve a variety of food in sealed bottles. It is claimed by some critics that the temperature was so high that it destroyed some of the flavour of the preserved food.

Appert's method of food preservation spread to the rest of Europe. In 1812 Bryan Donkin established a canning factory in Bermondsey. Donkin used tinned iron containers instead of bottles. A hammer and chisel were needed to open cans until the invention of a can opener in 1855.

Nicolas Appert died in Massy on 1st June 1841.