[Achieving instant freezing at home] The evolving freezing function of home refrigerators

⇒⇒ Click here if you are looking for rapid freezing for commercial use.
————————————————————————–

“I want to freeze it without sacrificing taste, texture, or quality!”

I think many people think this way when freezing food.

In order to meet these needs, the refrigeration function of household refrigerators has become more sophisticated. In this case, the key feature is flash freezing.

Because it freezes instantaneously, it is sometimes referred to as flash freezing, but it is generally referred to as rapid freezing. By freezing quickly, you can freeze food without losing quality.

Various manufacturers are working on developing high-quality refrigeration products. There are household refrigerators on the market that are equipped with excellent refrigeration functions, such as Mitsubishi's supercool freezing and Panasonic's partial freezing.

In addition to introducing the refrigeration function, we will also introduce a commercial rapid freezer that can achieve higher quality freezing.

Freeze at -7℃! Mitsubishi supercool freezing function

Freezing food is convenient because it extends its shelf life, but the downside is that it reduces quality. The important thing to prevent damage from freezing is to freeze quickly.

If you freeze the food slowly, as the water in the food turns into ice, the ice crystals grow larger and destroy the cells.

Then, water flows out from the destroyed parts along with the flavor components, deteriorating the quality. Therefore, when developing refrigeration functions, emphasis is placed on quick freezing.

What I would like to focus on with Mitsubishi's supercool freezing function is supercooling.

By applying supercooling, food can be frozen all at once and cell destruction can be prevented. It is also unique in terms of temperature, and is set at -7℃, a temperature that does not completely freeze. Supercooling and a temperature setting of -7℃ allow for high-quality freezing, which has the advantage of being easy to use when cooking.

Applying supercooling

Supercooling is a state in which water does not freeze even at freezing temperatures.
Freezing of water occurs when water molecules combine to form ice nuclei.

If the temperature is slowly lowered, a stable state will be reached and water molecules will not bond. This allows it to remain in a liquid state even when the temperature drops below freezing.

Then, when a small vibration or impact is applied, the water molecules bond together and freeze all at once. At this time, many ice nuclei are formed, allowing the ice crystals to remain small and frozen.

By freezing food using supercooling, it is possible to suppress the growth of ice crystals and prevent cell destruction. As a result, we can maintain good quality.

This state of supercooling was made possible by the airflow control and temperature control functions that are also applied to various air conditioner products.

When cold air hits directly, the surface it hits cools and ice cores form. By controlling the airflow so that the cold air does not hit the food directly, the entire food is cooled evenly and the formation of ice nuclei is prevented.

In addition, an infrared sensor controls the temperature inside and outside of the food to be uniform, keeping the temperature inside the freezer constant no matter where it is.

In this way, food can be cooled in a stable state through airflow control and temperature control, making it possible to create a supercooled state.

Freeze at -7℃

Freezing at -7°C instead of -18°C, which is the normal freezer temperature, ensures that it will not freeze completely. Since it does not freeze completely, it prevents quality deterioration due to freezing and maintains freshness better than when stored in the refrigerator.

It also has the advantage of being easy to handle when cooking. It is hard enough to be easily cut with a knife, so you can cook it as is without thawing it.

You can freeze it in bulk and easily separate and use only the amount you need. For example, meat can be cut into pieces while still frozen, and any unused portions can be stored in the freezer again.

Can be stored for a long time with good quality

Foods last longer than refrigerated or chilled storage.
Perishable foods can be stored for 2 to 3 weeks while maintaining freshness.

Foods that need to be completely frozen, such as frozen foods and ice cream, should be stored in a separate freezer room set at -18℃.

↓We are selling high-quality ingredients and foods made using rapid freezing!

Freeze at -3℃! Panasonic's partial freezing function

Panasonic's refrigeration function uses 1.3 times more air volume than conventional methods for quick freezing.

In addition, it has an excellent partial freezing function at -3℃, which allows you to maintain good quality and extend the shelf life.

-3℃ partial function

Partial is an abbreviation for partial freezing, which is a function that slightly freezes food at -3℃. Since it is not completely frozen, it is possible to prevent cell destruction during freezing and prevent the umami components from leaking out. It is possible to maintain freshness while preventing damage caused by freezing. Even perishable products can be stored for about a week without changing their quality.

Since it is slightly frozen, you can use it without thawing it, and you can easily insert a knife into it, making it convenient for cooking.

Storage period can be extended

Since the temperature is lower than that of refrigerated or chilled food, it is possible to suppress the activity of microorganisms and enzymes that cause quality deterioration. Therefore, it is possible to extend the storage period.

Perishable products such as meat and fish can be stored in the refrigerator for about 3 days, chilled for about 4 days, and partially stored for about 7 days.

Processed products such as sausages can be stored in the refrigerator for about 7 days, chilled for about 10 days, and partially for about 14 days.

Cooked items such as curry and meat sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for about 3 days, chilled for about 4 days, and partially stored for about 5 days.

High quality even when frozen! Commercial flash freezing function

The freezing function of household refrigerators has become highly efficient, but if the food is completely frozen, it cannot maintain its original quality.

However, commercial rapid freezer are specialized for freezing, so they can completely freeze food without sacrificing quality.

The reason for this is that the freezing speed is much faster and can be frozen instantly. Commercial rapid freezer allow food to pass through the temperature range of -5°C to -1°C, where the water in the food freezes, within 30 minutes, making it possible to freeze ice crystals in a finer state.

Therefore, it can be protected from freezing damage even if it is completely frozen. A variety of foods, from fresh to cooked foods, can be frozen in good quality and stored for long periods of time.

There are a variety of rapid freezing freezing methods, so we will introduce some of them.

air blast freezing

This freezing method uses cold air like a home freezer.
Freeze by blowing cold air at -40℃ to -30℃.

They range from small to large machines, and are installed in restaurants, food manufacturers, food processing plants, etc. There are various types of air blast freezing machines.

For example, the Artlock Freezer is equipped with a ``Micro Wind System'' that allows for high-quality freezing without damaging ingredients, and a ``Smart Freeze'' that automatically adjusts according to the input temperature of ingredients, outside temperature, humidity, etc. Masu.

It achieves stable, high-quality freezing of all foods no matter when you freeze them.

liquid freezing

A method in which antifreeze, which does not freeze even at minus temperatures, is cooled to -35°C and vacuum-packed food is soaked and frozen. Liquids have higher thermal conductivity than air, so they can be frozen faster.

Liquid freezing is widely used in skipjack fishing. It is difficult to maintain the freshness of bonito, and large quantities are landed at once, so liquid freezing is used to efficiently cool the fish. Liquid freezing machines are also increasingly being introduced at seafood processing plants. Salt water is used for skipjack fishing, and alcohol solution is used for sealing and freezing.

liquid nitrogen freezing

How to freeze food by spraying it with liquid nitrogenis. Liquid nitrogen has an extremely low temperature of -196℃, so it can quickly freeze food.

Because there is a risk of accidents if handled incorrectly, they are introduced at large food processing plants that are equipped with control equipment.

⇒⇒Click here for information on commercial rapid freezer

Conclusion

There are many delicious frozen foods on sale, including fresh produce and side dishes. The reason why we can maintain the quality and deliciousness of freshly made food even when frozen is because we freeze it in rapid freezer.

However, commercial rapid freezer are expensive, so it is difficult for the general public to purchase them.

However, in recent years, the freezing function of home refrigerators has been developed with an emphasis on quick freezing and ease of use.

It is equipped with high-performance freezing functions such as Mitsubishi's supercool freezing function and Panasonic's partial freezing function.

If you are thinking of replacing your refrigerator, please refer to this article.