Flash freezing

Imagine your favorite fruit or vegetable. Let's say it's a strawberry. Normally, when you want to keep a strawberry fresh, you put it in the fridge, right? But what if you want to keep it fresh even longer?

That's where flash freezing comes in. Flash freezing is a way to freeze food really quickly. When food is frozen slowly, ice crystals can form and damage the cells of the food, making it mushy and not as tasty. But when food is flash frozen, the process happens so quickly that ice crystals don't have time to form, which means the food stays fresher.

So, how does flash freezing work? Inside a flash freezer, there are really cold air temperatures that surround the food inside. The cold air temperature is around -40 to -80°C, which is super cold! The food is then placed into a chamber where jets of cold air blow over it really fast, causing the temperature of the food to drop very quickly. The food is then stored at a very low temperature, which helps maintain the freshness and texture of the fruit or vegetable.

This process can be used for all kinds of foods like fruits, vegetables, meats, and even bread. You might see flash frozen foods in the grocery store, like bags of frozen berries or veggies. These foods are meant to stay fresher for longer and can taste just as good as if they were fresh if they are cooked or prepared correctly. So, next time you enjoy some frozen fruit, remember that it might have been flash frozen to keep it fresh!