Scientists have proven that freezing is the best way to preserve the taste, appearance, and most importantly, the benefits of fruits and vegetables.
Without exaggeration, this is a smart, practical, and mega-useful solution, given the active rhythm of life and such a popular healthy diet.
How does shock freezing “work”?
During experiments, the American scientist Clarence Birdseye discovered that slow freezing leads to the formation of large ice crystals, while fast freezing preserves the cellular structure and taste of products. This marked a breakthrough in the storage of plant raw materials. And fast, or shock, freezing became a key technology for the production of various types of frozen products among manufacturers.
What are its stages?
- Only ripe fruits are selected for shock freezing, because it is these vegetables, fruits, and berries that contain the maximum concentration of vitamins and minerals.
- The harvested crop is delivered to the factory as quickly as possible. Here, the fruits are washed, cleaned of debris, sorted, dried, and blanched.
- Within a few hours, the products are placed in a freezer and frozen to −40 °C in a matter of minutes.
Frozen foods: as good and healthy as fresh ones
Shock freezing technology allows vegetables, fruits, and berries to almost completely retain the properties inherent in fresh fruit and vegetable products. Even more: to acquire new, useful benefits.
For modern man, frozen products are great because they…
- Maximum useful. Since only ripe fruits are selected for shock freezing, which are cooled a few hours after harvesting, they contain the maximum amount of useful substances and do not have time to lose them. And during freezing, the concentration of vitamins and minerals remains almost unchanged. For comparison: when quickly freezing berries, about 15% of vitamin C is destroyed, while when canning – 45–50%; when drying – 70–80%.
- Retain the original appearance, taste, and juiciness. Since deep freezing of products occurs extremely quickly – from 8 to 15 minutes – the water contained in the fruits does not have time to turn into large ice crystals that would damage their cell membrane. Therefore, frozen vegetables, fruits, and berries look like fresh ones. And also – they remain just as tasty and juicy. This is because they are blanched before freezing: this creates a film on the surface of the fruit, protecting it from moisture loss, oxidation processes, and off-flavors.
- Convenient to use. With frozen products, you don’t have to waste time and energy washing, peeling, and cutting the fruit. So just take it out of the freezer and enjoy cooking!