What is the best freezing technique?

Freezing is a very common method which is mainly used for preservation of food. It keeps the food really fresh and ready to eat for longer periods of time. Freezing foods at zero degrees or lower really helps keep them fresh for longer periods of time. Freezing also helps in maintaining the taste, texture and colour of the food. It is overall good for the cooking part as well.

Different methods of freezing

There are a lot of different methods of freezing that are used to freeze food.

• Contact freezing: A special type of freezer which is known as contact freezer is used for contact freezing. In this type of freezing technique, food is frozen in bulk. The only thing that is not great about this method is even if you want to freeze just a small amount of food, you would have to make space for more as the freezing is done in bulk.
• Blast freezing: In this technique of freezing, air is blasted over or circulated over the product. The process is repeated again and again till the product is frozen properly and completely.
• Brine freezing: In this technique, freezers have a tank fitted with coils. It is an old and conventional method but it is used for ice production.
• Cryogenic freezing: In this method, liquid nitrogen is sprayed directly over the product to keep the temperatures extremely low. This is one reason that this method is not very viable.

Difference between slow freezing and quick freezing

Slow food freezing process means the freezing of products takes more time than the quick freezing. In this, the food products may lose their natural colour, texture and even taste. This may also result in loss of nutrients. This can cause a lot of wastage if not done properly. On the other hand, quick freezing is very popular these days and it is so much better. It helps in freezing food quickly and also maintains the nutritional value of food.

Slow freezing may damage cell structure of the food products which can damage the quality of products and hence result in wastage. All of this is taken care of in quick freezing techniques. With this technique, manpower is also reduced and cost reduction also becomes possible. This is why quick freezing techniques are used in the food industry these days. Wastage of food is also reduced as food is frozen separately and only a certain amount of food is to be taken out for use and rest can be kept for freezing again.

By this, it is safe to say that a quick freezing technique is the best freezing technique as it keeps the quality of the food the same and makes food easier to consume for longer periods of time. By the use of quick freezing techniques, food does not lose its nutritional value, the texture and colour of the food also remains the same. This makes the food quality really good. Quick freezing methods are very popular in the food industry these days as these save time as well.