Flash freezing allows food to be kept for longer, while preserving vitamins and other nutrients. Enjoying seasonal fruit and vegetables all year round without losing flavor sounds too good to be true? Find out all about the advantages and disadvantages of the process and why we decided to quickly freeze our smoothie bowls and smoothies.
- What is shock freezing?
- This is how shock freezing of food works
- Shock freezing: These are the advantages
- Nutrient bomb smoothie bowl: shock freezing makes it possible
- These foods are suitable for flash freezing
- Blast freezer for the home: a good idea?
What is shock freezing?
The method makes it possible to preserve fruit and vegetables, baked goods, etc. by cooling them down very quickly to very low temperatures. The decisive advantage: The vitamin content and other nutrients are retained. The taste, shape and consistency also remain intact when the food is frozen in the blast freezer.
The process is also popular in the catering industry: Since cell metabolism is stopped, microorganisms cannot multiply any further and the food has a long shelf life under high hygienic standards.
What happens to the cell structure of fruits and vegetables during shock freezing?
Put the raspberries in the plastic bag, put them in the freezer and allow for maximum nutrient content - unfortunately the process isn't that easy. While freezing in the freezer at home creates large ice crystals that destroy the cell structures, the extremely rapid cooling to a temperature of around -40°C largely preserves the cell structure of berries, peas, etc. The reason: The ice crystals that form the cell fluid are very small.
This is how shock freezing of food works
There are several methods for flash freezing that are used for different foods. Which process can be used depends, among other things, on the shape of the food and its nature.
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Contact freezing process: The products that are already packaged for sale are cooled down to -40°C through contact with freezing plates through which a refrigerant flows. The process is used, for example, in the production of spinach or fish that have already been pressed into blocks.
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Cold air freezing process: Products such as pasta are cooled in a tunnel using cold, moving air. Lighter products such as raspberries or peas are whirled up ("flow freezing process"), which means they do not freeze together into a block. The goods are only then packaged for sale.
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Cryogenic process: What is used as cold sleep in science fiction films is also used to preserve the cell structure of food. These are transported on a belt through a tunnel, at the entrance of which liquid carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen is sprayed. The non-toxic gases absorb the heat of the products and cool them down to a temperature of -78°C or -196°C in a short time. The resulting steam is extracted and the products are then packaged and transported to the cold store.
What process is used for Wholey Smoothie Bowls?
In the production of our smoothie bowls and smoothies, fruit and vegetables are gently pureed and shock-frozen together with whole fruit pieces using a cryogenic process. The result after preparation: a wonderfully creamy treat, packed with vitamins and nutrients.
Shock freezing: These are the advantages
The motto is “full of vitamins”: five portions of fruit and vegetables a day can be a challenge, especially in the winter months. But it's not just the availability of all kinds of berries, peas, spinach, etc. in winter that is a crucial point. Flash freezing food has several advantages:
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More nutrients: Compared to other preservation methods such as boiling or pickling, more nutrients are retained. Shock freezing also has advantages compared to fresh products. The particularly sensitive vitamin C is broken down within just a few days when fruit and vegetables are stored and transported.
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Preservation: The method allows the food to last longer.
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Availability: Colorful berries even in winter - with the help of the process, food can be enjoyed freshly harvested even outside of the season.
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More enjoyment: By freezing within a very short time, the shape and taste of the food is preserved. Even the original juiciness is not lost after defrosting if the time required for this is observed.
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Less waste: If surplus harvests are preserved, food waste is reduced. Fruit, vegetables, etc. can also be saved from being thrown away by rapid cooling in the blast freezer at home.
Does shock forestry also have disadvantages?
Preserving food quickly while maintaining freshness and quality – sounds too good to be true? There are also a few disadvantages:
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High costs: There are costs for both the device and the energy consumption.
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Loss of quality: If freezing is not done quickly enough, there can be a loss of quality in terms of taste and shape of the food. Maintaining the cold chain is also crucial for preserving vitamins and nutrients during subsequent storage or transport of the products.
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Changed consistency: If meat, fish and vegetables are thawed too quickly after flash freezing, a lot of liquid is lost, which can change the consistency of the food.
Nutrient bomb smoothie bowl: shock freezing makes it possible
Although preserving the shape of fruits and vegetables is not necessarily important for processing into creamy smoothies and bowls, we have chosen this method. But we face a special challenge: If you want to buy your smoothie bowls online, there are a few hours between clicking to buy and sorting them into your refrigerator. To ensure that the cold chain is not interrupted, we use dry ice and insulating straw packaging, which incurs additional costs. This is where the flat rate shipping fee for frozen shipping comes from. What is it all for? We are sure that the high quality, the preservation of vitamins, nutrients and flavors justify the effort and are absolutely worth it.
The food is suitable for shock freezing
If you stroll through the frozen food department in the supermarket, you will get a very good impression of which foods shock freezing is suitable for:
- Fruits and vegetables
- Meat and fish
- Bakery products and pastries
Dishes that have already been prepared, such as risotto, can also be made to last longer thanks to the cold shock.
The process is not suitable for milk and milk products, eggs or salad.
Blast freezer for the home: a good idea?
If space in the kitchen and price are not an issue, you can of course keep your food fresher for longer using a shock freezer at home. Due to the high cost of purchasing them in combination with the frequent lack of space, the devices, which are available from around 2,500 euros, are more likely to be used in the catering industry than in one-room apartments.
